Goblins Are a Girl's Best Friends
by Scribblesnstuff
Summary: Sarah couldn't have forseen the consequences of introducing the goblins to musical theatre...or popcorn. Or that chief among said consequences would be the reappearance of a certain Goblin King in her life.
1. Chapter 1

This is the first fan fiction I ever wrote and it can be found in its entirety on deviant art. I'm taking advantage of reposting it here to edit and, hopefully, make a few improvements. I welcome all comments/and or criticism but please keep all criticism constructive! J

Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth. Labyrinth and all of its characters are the property of Henson and company.

Sarah Williams woke up to find herself embracing her pillow passionately, her lips pressed firmly against the off-white cotton. She groaned into her pillow.

"Well, this certainly redefines the phrase 'pillow-talk'." she muttered, raising herself up on her elbows and massaging her forehead. Sarah slid out of her bed and padded across the hall to the bathroom. Switching on the faucet, she proceeded to splash cold water in her face.

There was a knock on the bathroom door. "Sarah, honey, that you?"

"Yes, Dad." Sarah replied, toweling off her damp face.

"Good, I was just about to go wake you up. We need to be at the airport in an hour. Karen's fixing breakfast."

"Alright, Dad. I'll be downstairs in a bit." Sarah said, opening the door to smile at her father.

Robert Williams grinned fondly at his oldest child, ruffling her messy dark brown hair. " OK, sweetie-pie."

While Robert Williams descended the stairs to help his wife finish making breakfast and answer his five year old son's inquisitive questions regarding airplanes, Sarah walked back to her room to get dressed. Her father, stepmother, and Toby were going to Florida for six weeks to visit Karen's parents, retired to the land of sunshine and sandy beaches. Although she had been invited to come along, Sarah was more than happy to stay behind and house-sit. The peace and quiet would be nice after finishing her second year in college (not to mention surviving her second year living in a dorm) besides she always felt uncomfortable around Karen's family. They were nice people, albeit a tad on the snooty side, but every time she saw them they always tried to convince her to go out with so and so's "son", "nephew", "cousin" who had just gotten out of "medical school", "dental school", or "law school". It didn't seem to be able to sink into their brains that she wasn't going to explode from depression if she wasn't set on the road to marrying a man with a high-paying job.

Another reason she looked forward to having the house to herself was because it meant she could call on her friends from the Underground more often without having to use the worn out excuse of the radio or watching a movie on her computer when one of her roommates or family members heard voices emanating from her room.

'Now we won't be cramped in my room during our visits.' Sarah thought happily. 'We'll have the run of the house.' Ludo didn't have much room to move around in her dorm room or bedroom. Now the big lovable monster would have some space. Pulling her brush through her thick dark brown tresses, Sarah made a mental note to call her friends when she got back from the airport. She'd only got back yesterday and she'd been so worn out from the combined effects of the drive and Toby's enthusiastic welcome that after telling Toby a bedtime story, sleep had overtaken her the second her face had hit the pillow. Forcefully, she pushed lingering thoughts of her dream, which her pillow had reminded her of, aside. It was pathetic enough to dream about him and wake up making out with an inanimate object.

"I may not be able to control myself when I'm asleep, but I am NOT going to mope and daydream about him when I'm awake." She told herself firmly, untangling a snarl. There had been incidents this past semester when she had got bored during a few lectures and found herself envisioning a tall, lithe body pulling her own body towards it, backing her into walls and other scenarios that she was shocked her brain had come up with.

Shaking her head, she sat down and pulled on her sneakers. She pushed her brain back to her friends as she tied the laces. She would call them when she got home. Sir Didymus, chivalrous to a fault, always worried about her traveling unaccompanied.

Without further ado, Sarah rose from the floor and followed the delectable smell of bacon and eggs downstairs to the kitchen.

"Sarah!" Toby exclaimed from his seat at the table, almost knocking over his juice in his excitement.

"Mornin' Tobe!" Sarah laughed, brushing back a blonde curl and kissing his forehead.

"Good morning, Sarah." Karen said, smiling at her from her seat between Robert and Toby.

"Good morning, Karen." Sarah said, returning the smile. Their relationship had certainly improved over the past five years. The fact that they didn't live under the same roof for the majority of the year certainly helped in promoting their civility to each other. It was much easier to like someone when you didn't have to live with them.

Breakfast was dominated by the sounds of contented chewing and Toby's voice. Karen might not have been Sarah's ideal step-mother but she certainly could cook. 'It's hard to believe I ever wanted him gone.' Sarah mused as she listened to her baby brother ramble happily about airplanes and grandparents.

Half an hour later saw her at the airport saying goodbye to Toby, who was now beside himself with excitement, and her parents, who were beside themselves with Toby. Karen hugged her step-daughter with genuine gratefulness when Sarah presented her with enough typed out copies of her stories to keep the curious five year old occupied during the plane ride.

"Stay safe, dear." Her father said, enfolding her in his arms. "You have Karen's parents' number?"

Sarah kissed her father's cheek. "Yes, Daddy. I'll be fine. You guys have a safe flight!"

"Bye, Sarah!" Toby called, as they passed the security checkpoint.

"Bye, Toby!" She called back, waving until her family was out of sight.

Sarah hummed cheerfully as she strolled back to where she'd parked. She kept humming as she fished her car keys out of her purse and as she pulled away from the airport. It wasn't until she was approximately halfway home when she realized what she was humming. It brought to mind peaches and a decadent ballroom. She abruptly stopped humming and turned on the radio, singing along with any song that came on for the rest of the drive home to keep the memory of the familiar tune at bay.

She pulled into the drive and hopped out of the car. Quickly she unlocked the door and went inside, eagerly locking the door behind her. She bounded up the stairs, maybe her friends would be able to join her for dinner every night - or at least dessert, and a movie.

"Hoggle! Ludo! Sir Didymus!" She called happily, as she sat down in front of her mirror.

Hoggle's leathery face appeared in the mirror first, grinning. "Sarah!"

"Sawaah!" Ludo rumbled.

"My lady!" Sir Didymus exclaimed, appearing last. " I'm delighted to see that you have completed a safe journey."

"Thank you, Sir Didymus. I'm so glad to see you guys! How've you been since we last talked?"

"The usual." Hoggle grumbled. "The Royal Pain in the castle has me all busy setting up new flower patches and plants in the Labyrinth."

"Awww, I'm sorry Hoggle." Sarah said sympathetically. "He's…he's been doing a lot to the Labyrinth over the past few years hasn't he?"

"Indeed, the King has made extensive innovations to the Labyrinth recently."

"King make harder." Ludo agreed with his knightly brother.

"Sure he has, ever since he got beaten by our Sarah." Hoggle said, with equal parts delight in the King's loss and pride in Sarah.

Sarah quickly changed the subject before her brain could linger where she didn't want it to. "Well, I just dropped my family off at the airport. You guys are free to come over whenever you want for the next six weeks, we don't have to worry about being interrupted."

"Huzzah!" Sir Didymus shouted jovially, to accompanying happy noises from Ludo.

"That's great Sarah." Hoggle said, clearly delighted by her invitation.

"So would you guys be able to come keep me company tonight?"

"Sure, Sarah….erm…would we be able to watch a movie?" Hoggle asked. The dwarf had developed a penchant for televised entertainment.

"We can watch a movie every night." Sarah replied, hardly able to repress a laugh.

"That sounds splendid, my lady!"

"Fun!"

Hoggle looked immensely pleased.

"I'll see you guys in a couple of hours then."

"See you Sarah!" Hoggle called, fading from sight.

"Until later, my lady!"

"Bye, Sawah!" Ludo called.

In the castle beyond the Goblin City, the Goblin King lounged languidly on his throne. He was tapping his riding crop idly against his polished black leather boots, contemplating new ways to "improve" his Labyrinth and fighting the urge to check up on Sarah via a crystal.

The goblins in the throne room were talking among themselves, and drinking ale as the few chickens around the room pecked at the floor and each other, in addition to any goblin that came their way. One little goblin was unfortunate enough to interrupt his king in the middle of his musings by bursting into song. Jareth didn't appreciate the off-key ballad involving chickens and ale distracting him just as he had summoned a crystal to check on the object of his affection. He dropped the crystal in surprise just as Sarah came in to view. Silence fell over the throne room as the crystal shattered on the floor. The melody died in the little goblin's throat when he found himself being lifted to the Goblin King's mismatched eyes.

"Enjoy singing, do you?" Jareth inquired, his voice dangerously quiet. The goblins and chickens all looked on in avid interest at the drama unfolding before them.

"Yes 'un King!" The goblin squeaked.

"Wonderful!" Jareth remarked, his mouth curving into a dangerous smile. " The Bog of Eternal Stench needs livening up. Be sure to serenade it while you're there!"

With a poof, the goblin disappeared. Jareth chuckled. The throne room remained quiet.

"Well? Laugh." The Goblin King ordered. The throne room erupted in wild laughter.

"He go sing to Bog!"

"Hehehehe!"

"Har har har!"

"Bog music!" One goblin with three twisted horns on his head snickered, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.

With a sigh, Jareth settled back down on his throne.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Labyrinth is the property of Henson and company. Not me. If I did own it then you can bet your boots there would've been a sequel.

Sarah was luxuriating in the shower, enjoying not having another person pounding on the door or feeling rushed thinking that someone would be pounding on the door soon, when she heard her name being called from the other room.

"I'll be out in just a minute!" She hollered.

"Er…take your time!" Hoggle shouted back. "Just get rid of it, Didymus." He whispered venomously to the fox.

It had been a nice past few hours for Sarah. She'd baked cookies, lounging on the couch reading a book with Merlin next to her while they were in the oven. The shaggy sheepdog was enjoying Karen's absence - Sarah allowed him more freedom; he was a senior citizen in dog terms after all. It wasn't like he was going to go insane and chew up the curtains, all he wanted to do was lay down somewhere comfy near Sarah and snooze.

She turned off the water and stepped out of the shower.

"It would be most uncharitable to do so, Sir Hoggle! Lady Sarah is kind. I doubt it twill bother her." The knight whispered back.

"Fine! But I'm not gettin' blamed if things go wrong!" Hoggle shot back.

Sarah slid into a pair of black sweat pants and an old t-shirt. After making cookies, she'd put some snack platters and sandwiches together. She smiled anticipating her friends' reaction to the movie she'd chosen as she plugged in the hairdryer.

"Nice." Ludo remarked as the little creature on his shoulder snuggled into his bright fur.

"What's nice?" Sarah inquired as she walked through the door, shaking back her still slightly damp hair. "Oh." There was a goblin sitting on Ludo's shoulder. That in of itself said something. Ludo wasn't particularly fond of goblins.

"Hi 'un Lady!" The goblin greeted, smiling at her brightly. He looked like he only came up to about her knee and had a fang that protruded from his lower teeth so that it went over his upper lip when his mouth was closed.

"Hello." Sarah said, still taken aback to see a goblin sitting on Ludo's shoulder.

"I humbly apologize for this extra intrusion upon your hospitality, my lady, but this fellow happened upon my brother and myself near the bog and seems loath to leave our company."

"That's alright, Didymus, I don't mind." Didymus raised a bushy white eyebrow at Hoggle in a clearly unspoken 'I told you so'. "What's your name?"

"Me 'un Grunch."

"Well, its very nice to meet you Grunch. I'm glad you could join us."

"Thanks 'un, Lady!" Grunch replied, his tawny eyes shining under his mop of unruly gray-green hair.

"You can call me Sarah, Grunch."

"Alright 'un Lady Sarah!"

"Er…well, let's head downstairs. There's food and the movie's all ready."

"Alright!" Hoggle said, trying to downplay his excitement as they followed Sarah out of her room and down the stairs.

"That was wonderful!" Sir Didymus exclaimed, wiping away a tear from his eye at the conclusion of the movie with one hand while holding the remains of his peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the other.

"I'm glad you liked it, Didymus. It's one of my favorites." Sarah replied, a bit teary at the happy ending herself. "What did the rest of you think?" They had watched 'Singing In The Rain'.

"I liked it." Hoggle said, biting into the last cookie and blinking back the tears at the corners of his eyes.

"Happy." Ludo agreed, nodding his giant head up and down.

"Me 'un love!" Grunch declared emphatically from where he was snuggled next to Sarah. He was now clad in an old t-shirt of Sarah's. The tunic he'd been wearing had been rather pungent before his trip to the Bog of Eternal Stench and the aroma certainly hadn't improved any. Sarah had skillfully managed to part him from it by gifting him with the old blue shirt.

"You guys want to do this again tomorrow night?"

"Alas, my lady, Sir Ludo and I have an excursion planned to visit his esteemed parents." Didymus apologized. "Perhaps we could repeat this pleasant gathering upon our return a few weeks hence?"

"Sowwy, Sawah." Ludo added from where he rested on the floor next to the couch.

"That's alright guys." Sarah said, a little disappointed. "We can hang out when you guys get back. What about you Hoggle?"

Hoggle frowned, swallowing the last of his chocolate chip cookie. "Probably not tomorrow night, Sarah. His Majesty the Royal Jerk-OUCH!" Hoggle shrieked as Grunch's teeth sank into his wrist in a quick bite.

"King 'un no jerk! King 'un like Don Lockwood!" Grunch exclaimed indignantly.

An interesting mental image of the Goblin King tap dancing in the rain, twirling an umbrella and singing out his heart-all while clad in his normal kingly attire- popped unbidden into Sarah's mind. She bit down on her lip to keep from snickering.

"As I was saying," Hoggle continued, rubbing his arm, "the King's got me pretty busy. I was lucky to be able to get away tonight. I'll probably be too tired to do much the next couple of days after I finish work."

Sarah sighed. Life wasn't fair. Then she laughed inwardly at the irony. She'd been such a bratty fifteen year old. "Well, Grunch?"

"More singun'?" He queried hopefully.

Sarah chuckled. "Sure, we can watch a musical every night if you want."

"Yippee!" The goblin cheered, his face breaking out into his toothy grin, dominated by his fang, that was, oddly enough, rather cute.

"Well, I'd best be gettin' back. I've got to get an early start tomorrow."

"We should head back as well in order to begin our journey early on the morrow."

"Will you guys still be able to call occasionally?" Sarah asked as she escorted her friends back up the stairs. Grunch giggled with every step she took. The little goblin had his feet on top of hers while she held both of his hands in hers. He seemed to be enjoying the make-shift rollercoaster.

"Certainly, my lady!"

Sarah gently released Grunch down on the floor when they reached her bedroom. "Have fun visiting your family Ludo!" She said, disappearing in the rock-loving monster's arms as he hugged her. Ludo wiggled his ears happily. "You too, Sir Didymus." She knelt to gently embrace the little knight.

"We shall, my lady! Do be careful and enjoy your time of relaxation!" Sir Didymus said, waving as Ludo picked him up and they went back to Sir Didymus' home.

"Oh, no!" Sarah exclaimed as the realization hit her that they had left something behind. "They forgot Grunch! Will you able to get back to the Bog on your own Grunch?"

"Not goin' to Bog. Was goin' back to castle when found fox an Ludo."

"Why were you in the Bog in the first place?" Sarah asked curiously.

"King 'un send to Bog."

"He sent you to the Bog?"

"It's a favorite punishment of the Royal J…errr…that is the King's." Hoggle explained, eyeing Grunch's fang warily.

"What did you do Grunch?"

"Me 'un sing. Make King drop crystal. So King sent to Bog." Grunch replied matter-of-factly.

"I see." Sarah said, observing Grunch curiously poking her pillow. She could well imagine that the Goblin King wasn't a person who took interruptions well. "Then could he go back with you Hoggle? It'd be quicker for him to get to the castle from your house than the Bog anyway."

"I don't know Sarah. I don't want the King to think I'm messin' with his punishments. It generally takes them a few days to get back from the Bog." He looked askance at the goblin, who was cooing in delight as his hand sunk into Sarah's pillow while humming 'Good Morning'.

"You have a point." There wasn't any love lost between the Goblin King and Hoggle. The Goblin King allowed Hoggle to visit her; she was sure he could put a stop to it if he wanted to and she didn't want to tempt fate. "Hmmm…Grunch, how about you go back to the castle but stay out of the King's way for a few days so he doesn't notice you're back too soon?"

"Hide 'un? Okay, Lady Sarah!"

"Well, then. Come along now." Hoggle said, gesturing brusquely to Grunch.

"Take care of yourself, Hoggle." Sarah said, bending down to hug him and kiss him lightly on the forehead.

"Oh, Sarah! Stop it!" Hoggle squirmed, pretending to push her away.

Sarah laughed, releasing her friend. "Bye Hoggle! See you tomorrow Grunch!"

"Lady Sarah 'un? Can I bringun' some friends with me?" Grunch asked her with wide eyes, pausing before he followed Hoggle into her closet.

A vision of goblins swinging from the chandelier and wrecking other merry havoc throughout the house that Karen had tastefully decorated, organized and kept spotless flashed before Sarah's eyes. "I suppose," she said cautiously, "but no more than ten, okay?"

"Ok!" The goblin replied eagerly, scampering after Hoggle.

With a sigh, Sarah walked back downstairs to tidy up. She gathered up the plates and was sticking them in the sink to wash when a strong odor accosted her sense of smell.

Wrinkling her nose, she turned her attention to the garbage bag sitting by the door where Grunch's old tunic resided.

'I could always burn it.' Sarah thought, picking up the bag with her left hand and pinching her nose with her right. 'But then the smell might waft over to the neighbors and I really don't want to have to think of a way to explain this. I'll just bury it in the bottom of the garbage can.' Sarah carried the bag carefully out to the garbage can in the back yard, unaware of the repercussions that would come from introducing a goblin to musical theater.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape or form own Labyrinth or any of its characters. The assorted goblins mentioned, however, are my brain children.

Sarah twirled in her silvery powder blue dress, letting the filmy material puff and sway around her. Fairies came out of nowhere to laugh and play with her as she spun. Her hair flew out behind her as she frolicked around, arms outstretched mimicking the flight of the fairies as they giggled at her. A breeze caressed her as she came to a stop, toying with her hair and the edges of her dress. The fairies, still tinkling melodiously, flew off, resembling helter-skelter balls of light, as a gentle, misty rain began to fall.

Sarah ran for cover as the rain began to pick up. She ducked into a tunnel and…there he was.

"Jareth.." Sarah murmured, turning over in her sleep.

Jareth's eyes fluttered open immediately. He felt a prickly sensation dance across his skin, the faint feel of something forgotten remembered. Sitting up amongst the grey silk of the bed sheets, he seemed to glow like a fallen star with his wild mane of pale blonde hair and cream-colored skin. He could've sworn he heard a voice. A voice that haunted his dreams and waking moments alike had pierced his slumber with a soft call. His name. She'd spoken his name. Briefly his eyes closed in pain. It could just be his imagination, a cruel echo of his own desires. But this feeling… To speculate was useless. With a graceful flick of wrist and fingers he summoned a crystal.

He leaned above her, his elbow resting on the stone wall with his hand against his head. "Sarah, are you enjoying my labyrinth?"

"I love it." Sarah whispered back, wrapping her arms around the leather collar of his jacket. His free arm encircled her waist as she pressed her lips to his. She pulled him closer aggressively.

"Why, precious!" Jareth breathed delightedly. He watched with great interest as Sarah proceeded to kiss him passionately and all but knock him down. Just as Sarah's hands started to play with the belt on his jacket, the crystal went blank. "Oh, Sarah you tease." Jareth chuckled softly.

For the second time, Sarah woke with her arms around her pillow. "We really have to stop meeting like this." She addressed the object in her arms wryly. Disentangling herself from her bedclothes, which had somehow become tangled all around her as she'd romped with her pillow, she stretched and meandered downstairs to fix herself breakfast.

Jareth leaned back into his pillows contentedly. He could see her dreams. Ever since that night five years ago and her declaration to him- "You have no power over me"- he'd been unable to see or interfere with her dreams. He'd also been unable to appear to her, although he found that if he remained in his owl form a suitable distance away he could watch her without finding himself suddenly back in the Underground. He'd had to content himself the last five years with watching from afar, be it by crystal or from a tree, as she completed her transformation from a strikingly pretty girl into a beautiful woman. Now the only check on his powers was gone. He'd seen one of Sarah's dreams. And she'd dreamed of him. He tapped the crystal to view her dream from the beginning. 'Has she had other dreams about me?' He wondered curiously. With yet another elegant wrist flick he pulled a peach out of thin air. 'The Kingdom can survive without me for a while.' He mused, settling in and getting comfortable as he took a bite out of the peach.

Merlin rubbed up against Sarah's leg and she patted him distractedly. Absentmindedly she scratched behind his ears. "Now if I was a newspaper, where would I hide?" Merlin closed his eyes as she scratched him harder, looking about for the newspaper. "Ah-hah!" The printed news lay barely a foot from the curb on the sidewalk. "That paper boy must have an arm that makes all the other residents of the nursing home jealous." Sarah snorted, bending down to pick up the paper.

"Nah, I always figured he was just lazy." A voice from beside her disagreed.

Sarah nearly fell on top of Merlin in her surprise. Looking up she saw Brad Johnson from across the street. Brad had graduated high school a year ahead of her. He'd been the quarterback of the football team and the resident heart-throb of their small town. Many teenage girls had envied Sarah solely on the basis of her home's location.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Brad apologized, offering her a hand to help her up. "It's Sarah, right?"

"Yes, I'm Sarah. Thanks." She was surprised he knew her name. The social elite of high school had been unaware of her existence as far as she had known, and, quite frankly, that was the way she liked it. The reasoning of conforming to fit in had never made sense to Sarah. You changed the way you dressed, did things you didn't necessarily like to do all in order to spend time with people that were the "in-crowd". If you had to change everything about yourself for them to be your friends, then they weren't really your friends.

"I ran into your mother last week in the supermarket. She was told me you were coming home from school." He explained, tossing his short curly hair back in a way that experience had told him was irresistible. The hair got hot underneath a helmet, but that was a sacrifice he was willing to make for the ladies.

"Step-mother." Sarah corrected automatically. "You're already out on break then?"

"Yeah, I go to State. I'm on the first string." He said, flashing her a grin that was clearly meant to impress.

"That's nice." Sarah replied politely.

"So…I hear your parents are out of town. Maybe I could come over tonight and keep you company?"

'And the motive presents itself!' Sarah thought grimly. Generally speaking, she had discovered there were two reasons for a jock to talk to her: 1.) he was going to ask to cheat off her or 2.) he thought that the girl who spent the majority of her time with books would willingly do just about anything with him. Mentally she neatly filed Brad Johnson into the second category. "Thanks, but I have plans tonight." She said aloud, edging back up the sidewalk. "Nice talking to you."

Brad Johnson watched, stunned, as she disappeared back into the house. He'd never been turned down before.

Around seven o'clock, Sarah was lying on her bed reading when noises began to emanate from her closet to announce that her guests had arrived. "Grunch?" She called, laying down her book.

The closet door opened and out trooped Grunch who was followed by ten or so goblins. "Hi 'un Lady Sarah!" Grunch greeted.

"Hi Lady Sarah!" the goblins behind him chorused, waving at her.

"Hi guys! You can call me just Sarah."

"Alright, Lady Just Sarah." A female goblin with pink hair done in pigtails all over her head said.

"Ok, Lady Just 'un Sarah!"

"Whatevah you want Lady Just Sarah."

Sarah massaged her forehead. "Just call me 'Sarah.'"

The goblins shrugged. "Ok, Lady Sarah!"

"Why do you call me 'Lady'?"

"You 'un beat Labyrinth." Grunch stated, as if it were totally obvious. "That makes you Lady."

"Oh. Well then, I guess, just call me 'Lady'."

"Ok, Lady!"

Sarah grinned in spite of herself. "What say we make some popcorn and then you guys can pick out a musical?"

"Corn that explodes?" A blue goblin with curly white hair asked, awed. On a previous foray to the Aboveground he'd discovered what the man selling them had called "Pop Rockets". After noting the directions on the box, which were accompanied by illustrations, the illiterate goblin had lit the end of the stolen firecracker. His hair and eyebrows had been badly singed but it'd been worth it.

"In a manner of speaking. You eat it after it…ummm… explodes."

The goblins eagerly followed Sarah out of the room, anxious to eat food that had exploded. At the top of the stairs, Grunch tugged on her jeans and hopefully stepped on her shoe. "Let's shake things up a little, shall we?" Sarah gently lifted the pink haired goblin onto her other shoe. "Hold on tight." She cautioned as she descended the stairs.

The goblins on her feet giggled happily as she took over-size steps.

"That was like being kicked by the king!" The pink haired goblin enthused as Sarah set them down carefully on the floor of the kitchen.

"No way!"

"Nuthins as good as gettin kicked by da King!"

The goblins looked at each other. "I wanna try!" They said in almost one voice.

"Every time we go up or down the stairs, I'll take two of you." Sarah promised, bending down to pull the popcorn popper out of the cabinet, doing her level best to ignore the odd feeling that surged through her at the mention of the Goblin King. "So… you guys like it when the King kicks you?"

'It's just idle curiosity.' She told herself. 'It's not like I'm daydreaming about making out with him or anything.' Promptly an image of herself in the Goblin King's arms popped into her head. She shoved it to the back of her brain and focused on pouring the kernels into the popper without spilling them.

"It's great!"

"Like flyun'!" Grunch nodded in agreement.

"I was first to be kicked today!" A goblin with a single lopsided horn said proudly, puffing out his chest.

"Well, I was almost first.. and I went further than you." The pink haired goblin huffed, pouting.

The discussion fell silent as the kernels began to jump in the popper. Hurriedly, Sarah placed a large mixing bowl near the mouth of the machine.

"OoooooOOooo!" The goblins said, jumping a bit as the first kernel "exploded".

Sarah grabbed the butter out of the refrigerator. The goblins watched the popcorn pop, awestruck, while simultaneously debating what exploded food would taste like versus normal food. Chuckling at the debate, Sarah performed a headcount. Sarah pulled thirteen bowls of approximately similar sizes down from a cabinet, standing on her toes to reach. The popper hummed emptily as the last of the popcorn fell into the bowl.

"It's done exploding, Lady!"

"Okay, I want you guys to line up and I'll pass out your popcorn. After you get it, I want you guys to go take a seat in there and wait for me. Got it?" The Lady of the Labyrinth instructed, putting butter in the mixing bowl and a dash of salt.

"Got it, Lady!"

She scooped the bowls into the mixing bowls and handed them off to the goblins as they filed past her. In amusement she listened to the creatures' reaction in the next room as she filled up her own bowl.

"Soft!"

"Good!"

"It 'un like cloud!" Grunch closed his eyes in delight. The blue goblin licked his lips. "Exploded food is better than normal food." This realization seemed to give him great pleasure.

Contentedly munching, the goblins all nodded their heads in agreement.

"Okay guys." Sarah placed her bowl on the edge of the table in front of the TV. "I picked out a few movies. I'll read the titles aloud and then we'll take a vote on which one we'll watch."

"What's 'un vote?" Grunch asked, cocking his head to the side. The other goblins eyed her in mild confusion.

'Monarchy, duh.' Sarah thought. "A vote is a fair way for a group of people to make a decision about something they'll all be effected by."

"Ohhhhhh."

"Now, the movies are : "Oklahoma!", "Showboat", and "The Music Man"." Sarah announced, holding up the respective DVDs as she read the name aloud. "Raise your hand if you want to watch "Oklahoma!"."

Three goblins raised their hands, including the one with the lopsided horn. "I fell out of an oak tree yesterday." He said conversationally to his neighbor on the couch.

"That's three for "Oklahoma!". Raise your hand if you want to watch "Showboat"." Sarah attempted to keep her voice even.

"Ooo, I'd like to see a boat!" The blue goblin exclaimed, raising his hand. Four other goblins raised their hands as well.

"That's five for "Showboat". Raise your hand if you want to watch "The Music Man"."

"Music'un!" Grunch shrieked gleefully, raising both his hands and waving them emphatically. Five hands, two of which belonged to Grunch, raised for "The Music Man".

"Well, looks like we'll be watching "Showboat"."

Grunch's pout nearly made his fang touch his nose.

"The singing is beautiful in this, Grunch. You'll love it." Sarah said as she turned down the light and put the DVD into the player. At the mention of singing, Grunch perked right up. A smile turned up the edges of Sarah's mouth as she picked the remote up off the top of the TV and nestled into the recliner next to the couch where the goblins were crowded.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Guess what? I don't own Labyrinth or any of its characters! The only thing to stem from my brain are the various goblin personalities that grace the presence of this story.

"The King's in a good mood." The pink haired goblin, whose name happened to be Smidge, announced as she hobbled into the kitchen of the Castle Beyond the Goblin City. "Third time today." She added, rubbing her backside proudly.

"King 'un happy." Grunch agreed, placing more kindling in the hearth.

The blue goblin nodded his head to this, pacing back and forth in front of the large pot suspended over the hearth eagerly. He stopped suddenly when crackling noises started emitting from the pot. "Alright, popcorn!" The goblin whooped. A few hours earlier the creature had gone to visit the Lady and ask for some of the food that could explode. The Lady, however, hadn't been home. But the bag of kernels on the kitchen table had.

Unaware that her popcorn kernel bag had been burgled, the Champion of the Labyrinth was sitting with her back against her favorite tree in the park reading. Merlin snoozed contentedly on one side of her and a satchel containing her phone, keys, notebook should inspiration strike, and a few books lay on the other. Closing the book, her fingers stroked the red leather idly. A sigh escaped her as her thumb traced the gilt lettering of the title. Unbidden, words immediately came to her.

"And you, Sarah. How are you enjoying my Labyrinth?"

Sarah massaged her forehead. 'I couldn't have spent more than half an hour total with the man and yet he pops up in my mind with the regularity of an ad on TV. Honestly, the way I fantasize and dream about him it's like I'm in...' She knocked the back of her head against the bark of the tree with a groan. 'Wouldn't he smirk if he knew the bratty girl who defeated him had a thing for him? The perfect revenge.' She thought dryly, tapping her fingers against the book's spine. 'Or would he? Fear me, love me, obey me and I will be your slave. Had he meant it? Or was it just a final try at getting me to give up on Toby?' Her eyes closed as she sighed. "For the Goblin King had fallen in love with the girl."

"You know, talking to yourself is a sign that you need some company." A male voice addressed her.

Hope rose, died, and plummeted within Sarah's chest as she recognized the figure before her. "Hey Brad."

"Hey." He stretched as she looked up, showing off his physique beneath his form-fitting work out shirt. "You come here often?"

Briefly, Sarah considered lying, but then if Brad frequented the park on a regular basis she would be found out. "I like to come here to read and think. It's a good place to be alone with my thoughts."

"I know what you mean. I like to come here to jog." With another stretch, he dropped down to sit in front of her. "So how would you like to get together tonight so our "thoughts" won't be alone? Maybe we can take in a movie?"

The unspoken "first" at the end of his question wasn't lost on Sarah. She stiffened uncomfortably as he reached forward and pushed a stray dark hair behind her ear. His touch made her skin crawl, knowing what he probably wanted from her. Sensing her discomfort as only canines can, Merlin, the normally placid sheepdog, awoke and let out a low growl. 'Excellent judgment, Merlin! Good boy!' Sarah thought, as the jock removed his hand from her face and backed up a bit on his knees. "Easy, Merlin." She said mildly as she placed a hand on his head. "He's rather protective."

"I can see that." Merlin's eyes were trained on the jock. "So what about tonight?"

'Hmmm...let me think. Go out with a guy who clearly wants to take advantage of me or hang out with goblins...Or both.' A wicked half-smile turned up the corner of her mouth. 'If he doesn't leave me alone I could always set the goblins on him. Well, I wouldn't. But it's a worthwhile thought.' Aloud she replied, "Thanks, but I have plans."

Brad's brown eyes beneath his brown curls had caught the half-smile that had flitted across Sarah Williams' face. His brain supplied him with the only possible reason a girl would refuse him twice. It still made his ego twinge. Girls had dumped their boyfriends before to go out with him - some had simply gone out with him without their boyfriend's knowledge. Volumes were spoken of Brad Johnson that the relationships he had ruined made him feel proud rather than remorseful. Although, to be fair, he didn't see ruined relationships. All he saw were his "skills with the ladies", as he would have termed it. "So what's his name?"

Sarah's mind was yanked from contemplative musings of the joyous chaos that the goblins could wreak upon Brad and any boys like him. Before her mind could fully comprehend the question, she answered. "Jareth."

"You two been together long?" Every boyfriend was bound to mess up eventually. Then maybe he'd have his chance and offer her a shoulder to cry on. Then maybe she'd offer him something in return. His ego demanded that Sarah Williams not remain the lone girl to "not want a piece of the Brad". As he would say. Apparently his ego wasn't going to quibble over the unfair advantage he would have in preying on a girl when she was on the rebound.

"Errr...for a while now." Sarah replied, gathering her things together to make a hasty departure. 'In a way it's the truth. I've been dreaming about him the past couple of years. Probably why I haven't been out on many dates.' Its hard to build a relationship with someone when you find yourself imagining they're someone else when you're kissing them. Then to compare that kiss to a kiss you've experienced only in dreams on top of that... 'Oh, you're not pathetic at all Sarah. You just told a boy that you're in a relationship with the Goblin King. A man you haven't laid eyes on in five years and have an obsession with that can't be very healthy. Well at least Brad will leave me alone now.'

"Well, maybe we be friends still and hang out some time."

'We were friends before? Riiiiight.' Sarah was pleased by the vagueness in his tone. "Yeah, maybe. Well, we best be getting home. C'mon, Merlin. Bye, Brad." Relief flooded Sarah. She almost felt like skipping as she left the park. Brad Johnson had really backed off when she'd led him to believe she was involved with Jareth. 'Technically though, I didn't specifically say I was involved with anyone. He never straight out asked if I was in a relationship. And I've been "dream-dating" Jareth, so to speak, for the last five years.' She bit her lip. 'And pathetic as it may be, an imaginary relationship looks like all I'm ever going to have', she thought grimly, 'since I seem to have Jareth stuck in my brain.' Merlin padded along beside her as she turned onto her street. 'I suppose...I could try to contact him.' Nerves bubbled up inside of her stomach and promptly presented her with an image of the Goblin King staring at her with his signature stare, accentuated by a raised brow. Then bursting into haughty laughter. 'Perhaps it would be best to wait and see...maybe learn more about him.' She dropped Merlin's leash, which was used only to comply with the city regulations rather than out of necessity, as they climbed up to the front porch to rummage in her satchel for her keys. 'Who better to tell me about the King of the Goblins than the goblins? We'll make some more popcorn and have a little chat before we watch the movie tonight.' She smiled as she held the door open for Merlin, recollecting the goblins' enthusiasm for "exploded" food.

It was at almost that precise moment in the Castle Beyond the Goblin City that the lid blew off the pot the goblins were using to make popcorn with explosive force. It ricocheted off the ceiling and hit the blue goblin on the head as it made its descent.

"Woo-hoo!" He cheered, weaving from side to side.

The other goblins assembled jumped about in glee and shouted joyously as singed popcorn rained down upon them.

Grunch picked up a particularly burnt piece and popped it in his mouth. He gagged and spit it out. "Yuck! Not 'un like Lady make!"

"Maybe it's too exploded." Smidge pondered, after biting off half of a piece experimentally.

The blue goblin let out a massive sigh, and sank dejectedly into a pile of over-exploded food. All of the other goblins joined in the general dismay after tasting the popcorn.

"Maybe the Lady could teach us to make it." The goblin with the lopsided horn suggested.

"I was about to say that!" Smidge pouted, folding her arms.

"What lady? And what, pray tell, have you done to the kitchen?" Jareth drawled from the doorway. He had been walking about the castle, trying to plan his reunion with Sarah, when the minor explosion had drawn his attention.

"Tried to make exploded food." The blue goblin said sadly from the floor, picking up the burned popcorn and letting it trickle through his fingers.

"Like 'un Lady make!"

"THE Lady." The goblin with the lopsided horn clarified.

Jareth's heart beat faster within his chest as his suspicion was confirmed. "You mean Sarah?"

"Yes, Lady Sarah." Smidge nodded, pigtails bobbing.

Jareth raised an eyebrow. "You've been visiting Sarah?" He tried to keep his tone nonchalant.

"Watch 'un musicals." Grunch said in dreamy ecstasy.

The goblins nodded.

"Lady's nice!"

"The Lady is fun!"

"She made us exploded food." The blue goblin's tone was bittersweet.

"So when does Sarah expect to see you next?" He examined his nails.

"Tonight!" The goblins chorused.

Jareth had been having problems planning his reunion with Sarah. He had considered visiting her in her dreams, but had ruled that out. He'd had enough of dreams. The reality of her before him, as soon as possible, was what he desired. He had toyed with the idea of simply appearing in her room and re-enacting her dreams, but Sarah would probably object to being kissed without preamble in real life. He could re-enact HIS dreams involving Sarah, but she would most definitely object to that. Sarah's fiery passion was one of the things he loved most about her, but he preferred that it be channeled at him in wild adoration, insane desire, or intense love rather than white-hot rage. Therein lied the problem. He needed a plan that was suitably romantic without moving too fast to bring Sarah back into his life. Or rather, bring himself back into Sarah's life. No easy feat for a man who'd been forced to watch the woman he wanted to be his Queen from afar for the last five years. Now the ideal plan had just exploded some type of Aboveground foodstuff in his kitchen. He smiled wickedly, showing his pointy canines. "Perfect."


	5. Chapter 5

To BlackElement7: I'm so glad you like the goblins! And yes, Brad's in for some interesting times, hehehe.

To White Owl: Thank you so much for the kind review! You totally made my day! I hope the following chapters live up to your expectations : )

Many thanks to everyone who has added this story to their favorites/alerts! Every time I see the notifications in my inbox, it brings a smile to my face. Thanks so much!

Disclaimer: I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I do not own Labyrinth or its respective characters. Labyrinth is the property of Henson and company.

Sarah lay on the couch with Merlin on the floor in front of her. The T.V. was on and relaying M*A*S*H reruns. It was one of Sarah's favorite shows, introduced to her in the form of some of these very reruns by her father, yet the witty, often sarcastic, humor held none of her attention. Hawkeye, B.J., Klinger and the bunch were serving as comfortable background noise while she planned her goblin interrogation project. The challenge lay not so much in that she foresaw any problems in getting the goblins to divulge information, but in finding a way for the goblins to help her answer the questions they couldn't answer directly. The questions that she wanted answers to the most. Had Jareth's final offer to her been serious? Did he care for her then? If he had, did he still?

'A good place to start would be how he's treated other Labyrinth challengers besides me. Has he joined other drugged dreams besides mine? Was that even really him? Or was it my one-track mind getting a head start on its let's-make-it-impossible-for-Sarah-to-have-a-relationship-with-any-man-that's-not-Jareth campaign?' Unrepentant, her mind recalled Jareth in his ballroom finery. 'He looked like Prince Charming. Only he's a King. And he's oodles sexier. Plus I doubt that any Cinderella tale would have that type of hanky-panky that was going on around us in it.' She reached for the remote, slightly regretting feeling cool plastic instead of soft velvet coat front. 'Well, an animated, child-friendly version of Cinderella at any rate.' Hot-Lips Hoolihan and Hawkeye Pierce were interrupted mid-argument as a click from the remote turned off the T.V.

The clock on the DVD/VCR combination above the T.V. informed her that she had a few hours till it was time for the goblins to show up for their nightly musical. Stretching, she hopped off the couch, careful not to disturb Merlin who was sleeping soundly. Sarah had gotten halfway to the stairs when Merlin lifted his head and fixed sleepy eyes on her.

"It's alright, boy, I'm just going upstairs to grab a book." Sarah said, turning to look her dog in the eyes, alerted by the metallic jangle of the tags on his collar. He cocked his head and rose. Padding over to her, he butted his head gently against her knee. "Awww, Merlin", she smiled, kneeling to hug her dog, "you're such a sweetheart." She cupped his face in her hands, scratching behind his floppy ears. "Think it's possible that he loved me Merlin?" The memory of his eyes, intense and bewitching, fixed on her face as they danced momentarily came back to her as she looked into the dark brown eyes of her dog. 'Even though I was the epitome of selfish brat at the time he met me. Then I flat out rejected him there at the end. Which must have really hurt if he did love me...could any affection withstand that?'

The sheepdog unceremoniously licked her nose.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, buddy." She laughed, wiping off her nose with the back of her hand. Rising, she climbed the stairs with Merlin at her side. When they reached her room, Merlin walked wearily to the side of her bed and plunked down on the floor, resting his head on his paws and ready to continue his nap. Sarah crossed to her bookcase. The tips of her fingers brushed a bumpy course along the spines of the books on the second shelf from the top, coming to a halt when they found what they were seeking. Gently, Sarah pried Pride and Prejudice from its spot on the shelf. Elizabeth Bennet hadn't realized until after rejecting him vehemently that she loved Mr. Darcy. The irony in the similarity to her own situation was not lost on Sarah. ' 'Love' is a powerful word though. I think it would be best to wait to use that word until I'm really sure of the situation I'm in. I might not even be in a situation. It has been five years after all. There is a very real probability that he never cared for me and has forgotten that such a person as Sarah Williams exists.' Pushing her thoughts aside with a sigh, Sarah curled up on her bed and sought refuge in the world of Elizabeth Bennet and her guaranteed happy ending.

"Ugh! My fingers hurt." Smidge whined, dropping the sponge she held to massage her fingers gingerly.

Grunch, who was working on the other side of the hearth, continued to scrub determinedly. "I 'un not missin' musical."

"Me either." The goblin with the lopsided horn agreed as he helped the blue goblin, who now sported a bump on his head, sweep up the remainder of the over-popped popcorn. Jareth had generously, as he told them himself, sentenced his exploded food fixated subjects to cleaning the kitchen-thoroughly. Provided they did this, they could still visit the Lady as planned.

"I didn't say I didn't want to go." Smidge muttered grumpily as she picked up her sponge and got back to work.

In the quiet of her room, Sarah became immune to the sounds of her surroundings - Merlin's even breathing as he slept and the hum of the air conditioning - as she became engrossed in the tale of eighteenth-century England.

Jareth stared at the mirror critically. "Hmm..." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Ah-hah!" With a flick of his wrist the black velvet coat previously on his torso reappeared inside his massive walk-in closet and another coat appeared on his lithe form in its place. The Goblin King smirked at his reflection standing within the ornate wrought silver frame of the mirror. "Now that's more like it."

A knock sounded on the door. "King 'un?"

"Come in." The King ordered.

Ten or so goblins trooped in. "We're finished cleaning the kitchen, your majesty."

"Can we go to Lady's now?"

"Time 'un for musical!"

"Maybe more exploded food?" The blue goblin stumbled into Smidge for the fifteenth time since leaving the kitchen. It appeared as if the whack on the head he'd received had severely hindered his depth perception. For the fifteenth time, Smidge shoved him away, irritated.

Shaking his head, Jareth strode forth and lightly touched the blue goblin on the head with a gloved finger. The goblin stilled as the world around him came into clear focus. "Whoa! Thanks for making the world stand still, King!"

Jareth rolled his eyes, but an amused smile pulled at his lips. "You're welcome. Now let us depart, lest we keep Sarah waiting."

"Yay! Lady!"

"Alright!"

"Music 'un!"

"Exploded food!"

Sarah was so engrossed in her book that time slipped by without her noticing until voices interrupted Mr. Collins' awkward marriage proposal.

"Lady!"

"Hi Lady!"

"Hey Lady!"

Sarah smiled, lightly dog-earing the page she was on and closing her book. "Hey gu.." She looked up. The words wilted in the dry desert her throat seemed to become almost instantly.

"Hello, Sarah." The Goblin King cocked his head to the side slightly, smiling as his eyes took in the curves of her body where she lay curled up on her side and the way her chocolate tresses framed her lovely face. Surprise was evident in her bright green eyes and the way her full lips hung open slightly.

The finale to the 1812 Overture, complete with cannon fire, blared in Sarah's mind at the sight of the Goblin King standing in the midst of some of his goblins. In the middle of her room. 'He looks just the same. Only better. Wow. He's just...wow.' He was clad in black leather boots and tan breeches. Tucked into his breeches was a flowing white shirt that dipped low to reveal a distracting view of his medallion hanging against his chest. Over his shirt he wore a brown leather jacket with a high collar. His face was irresistibly magnetic with those gorgeous mismatched eyes - one sky blue, the other tawny brown - under slanted brows. Golden hair served as a natural crown on his head in all its wild glory - spiky strands that stuck straight up mixed with longer strands that fell to touch the collar of his jacket.

Various thoughts swirled madly in Sarah's head. 'Dang, but he looks good in those pants! Thank heaven my legs are shaved.' Sarah was wearing jeans and currently unaware that the Goblin King would in no way know if her legs were shaved or not. 'I wonder if his hair is as soft as it looks. Those eyes..! My, but his lips look good. So good. It'd be nice to wrap my arms around the collar of his jacket and...the jacket! He's wearing what he wore in the tunnel! Except the boots were gray and maybe the breeches were different.' Sarah's oddly precise memory of his majesty's attire jarred something awake within her head. This was the outfit, followed closely in popularity by what he'd worn in the ballroom, that he was generally wearing in her dreams. What he wore when she dreamed about doing what she'd just been thinking of doing. The realization caused a pink flush to suffuse Sarah's face.

The goblins stared up at the Lady, concerned as she turned red.

Jareth's smile transformed into a preening, satisfied smirk at her reaction. He had chosen his outfit with her dreams very much in mind. Sarah's blush, he decided, was adorable and incredibly gratifying.

Embarrassment brought clarity to Sarah's mind and a return to awareness of reality. Indignation welled up in Sarah and her embarrassment increased upon taking in his expression. The mortifying thought struck her that he probably had a good idea of what had just gone on in her head from the way she'd reacted. Deciding that indignation was preferable to knee-weakening embarrassment, Sarah swallowed and belatedly replied. "Hello, Jareth. I didn't expect to see you." Sarah rose off of her bed, a faint challenge in her statement. 'Now there's the understatement of the century. Real eloquent, Sarah.' Feeling herself start to blush again just as the color was receding, Sarah anxiously staved it off. 'Stand up straight. He may be a king, but I'm not one of his subjects. This is my house and I'll call him by his first name and do whatever else I like! AND he showed up uninvited!' Per her mental pep talk, Sarah threw back her head proudly and stood up straighter.

"I apologize for coming over uninvited, but I thought it best that I join in on these nightly soirees in order to help prevent further incidents." Jareth told Sarah silkily.

"Incidents?"

Jareth arched an eyebrow at the goblin hiding behind his fellows, who promptly broke rank to reveal him under the gaze of their King. The little blue goblin walked forward guiltily and proffered a dirty plastic bag to the Lady, who knelt to take it. Turning it over in her hands, Sarah recognized it with a groan. It was the bag of popcorn kernels she thought she'd left on the kitchen table.


	6. Chapter 6

To B2STalmighty: I'm so glad you're liking it thus far! I actually wrote this fic a year or so ago and am transferring it from my DA account ( and doing some editing in the process) so I hope to have it all up by the end of next week at the latest. Thanks for reviewing! : )

To Brittcheltana: Yay! I'm glad I could make you laugh : ) The whole exploded food thing is based on an experience I had with the family popcorn popper…never forget to put the little funnel thing on that shoots the popcorn into the bowl. Bad things happen when you don't have it on there,lol. Thanks so much for the kind words!

Thanks so much to everyone who has added this story to their favorites/ alerts! Special hugs to all of my reviewers! You guys have been very encouraging and sweet, and I really appreciate all the feedback. Seeing those notifications in my inbox brings a smile to my face : )

Disclaimer: Labyrinth is the property of Henson company; I in no way own it or its respective characters.

"Oh, no." Sarah breathed, massaging her forehead.

"Oh, yes." Jareth nodded. "As a result of your influence, my kitchen suffered severe...what was it you cretins were trying to make again?"

"Popcorn, your majesty." The goblin with the lopsided horn supplied helpfully.

"Ah, yes, popcorn. My kitchen suffered immensely under the onslaught of your popping corn."

"Exploded food TOO exploded." The blue goblin sighed, looking mournfully up at Sarah.

"Oh, dear." The Lady bit her lip. "Look...errm...I'm sorry about your kitchen, but I didn't give the bag to them. If I had, I would've explained to them how to make it safely. I hope your kitchen wasn't too...uh...damaged."

"I wouldn't say damaged so much as covered in charred foodstuff. At any rate, it's clean now." Sarah noticed Smidge rubbing her fingers as Jareth waved dismissively. "So I take it this explosive foodstuff wasn't given to them with your express consent?"

"No," Sarah said, shaking her head, "I didn't even notice it was missing."

"Murpl." Jareth's voice rang out authoritatively.

The blue goblin looked up at his King with big eyes. "Yes, King?"

"What do you have to say to the Lady?"

"I'm sorry, Lady." Murpl said shamefacedly, bashfully kicking his foot against the floor.

"For?" Jareth prompted.

"I'm sorry for taking the exploded food without asking." Murpl elaborated.

"And what have you learned?" Jareth asked sternly. Sarah pressed her lips together firmly to prevent a giggle escaping her at the sight of the mighty Goblin King sounding for all the world like the father of a guilty child.

"Not to steal exploding food unless I know how to explode it?"

Jareth sighed heavily. "Close enough." He muttered, shaking his head of wild hair.

Sarah was unable to stifle her laughter after that. "Apology accepted, Murpl." She chuckled, patting the blue goblin on the back.

Jareth's chagrin turned into mild amusement as the sound of Sarah's laughter echoed in his ears. "So, you see Sarah why it is imperative for the well-being of my kingdom for me to be present at these gatherings. If I know what sorts of things they're being exposed to it makes it so much easier to take preventative measures." Sarah's eyes found his again. "Or at the very least I'll be tolerably prepared for any further small explosions."

"So I don't have to worry about any elaborate plans for revenge since I beat your Labyrinth and indirectly trashed your kitchen?" Sarah asked lightly, encouraged by his tone but still a little hesitant. Her muscles relaxed and she let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding as his melodious chuckle washed over her. It didn't sound like the maniacal chuckle of a revenge-crazed former nemesis. It sounded, well, pleasant. And nice. Very, very nice.

"Certainly not." He smiled reassuringly, his voice retaining amusement and warmth. 'Elaborate plans for wooing you though, yes.' Jareth added internally. "I'll admit that being bested by a fifteen year old girl stung a bit at the time, but really considering that you made your way through an obstacle that has reduced men twice your age now to tears I couldn't help but be impressed." 'And fall utterly in love with you and want to keep you with me forever.'

"Lady thinks like a goblin." The goblin with the lopsided horn added proudly.

"And, truly, there is no greater praise." Jareth commented sarcastically. The goblins nodded their heads in agreement. In a softer tone, free of sarcasm, he continued. "I have nothing but the greatest respect and admiration for the champion of my Labyrinth."

"Thank you." All of a sudden, Sarah's ears felt inexplicably warm after the way the Goblin King's eyes traveled over her as he had enunciated the word 'admiration'.

"Lady 'un sick?" Grunch asked worriedly, gently tugging the sleeve of her t-shirt to get her attention.

"No, I'm fine, Grunch." Sarah replied in surprise. "Why would you think I'm sick?"

"You 'un change color again."

"Like Smidge's hair." The goblin with the lopsided horn elaborated.

"My hair isn't sick!" Smidge grasped her head indignantly.

"Only now you're more reddish." A small goblin sitting next to Jareth's boot put in.

"Yeah, definitely red." Murpl agreed, peering up at Sarah's face where she knelt next to him.

Sarah rose from the floor, trying to ignore Jareth's amused smirk. 'He knows perfectly well why I'm blushing! Why that vain, egotistical...looks utterly gorgeous and kissable when he smirks like that.' Her one-track mind inserted. The champion of the Labyrinth cleared her throat. "I'm fine guys. Now let's head downstairs and see if we can put some type of snack together for while we watch the movie." She walked determinedly out of her room, noting that Merlin had wisely taken advantage of the excitement to move his nap to a safer location. The goblins eagerly followed Sarah out of the room, jabbering away to her and each other in their excitement.

Jareth trailed behind them, watching the skin on Sarah's arms fade from red back to its normal hue. 'Her whole body must turn red when she blushes.' He thought idly, his eyes trained on Sarah as she marched down the hall - on her dignity and then some. Then he stopped mid-step, one black boot in the air, as the thought fully sank in and came crashing down upon him.

"So whose turn is it?"

"Mine!"

"My turn!"

"Isn't it my turn again yet?" Smidge asked.

"Not quite, Smidge, but you're almost next." Sarah replied patiently as she secured a goblin on either foot.

"Turn for what?" Jareth inquired curiously, storing away the rather tantalizing thought of Sarah's blushing mechanism for pursuit at a later date.

"Lady give 'un ride!" Grunch told his monarch enthusiastically.

"Ride?" Jareth queried as he took in the goblins standing on Sarah's feet.

"It's a bit of a tradition." Sarah explained with as much dignity as she could muster while supporting a goblin on either foot.

"It's ALMOST as good as when you kick us, majesty." Smidge admitted as the goblins scampered down the stairs next to their King while Sarah led the way, taking humongous steps and causing the goblins riding on either foot to squeal in gleeful delight.

Jareth responded to this flattering comment in the most goblin-gratifying manner possible.

"WhEEeeeeEEEee!" Smidge yelled happily as she sailed through the air, past Sarah, to land with a thud at the foot of the stairs.

Sarah paused and turned her head in amazement to the Goblin King and his cheering subjects. 'They really do like it when he kicks them.' Jareth shrugged gracefully at her. Shaking her head at them, the corners of her mouth turned up as she resumed her path down the last few steps and to the kitchen.

"So I gather your parents and young Toby won't be joining us this evening?"

Sarah was glad of the excuse looking in the cabinets for a snack afforded her. She was fairly certain that overwhelming visual stimuli was best adapted to in small doses. "No, they're out of town visiting Karen's parents for the next couple of weeks." Rummaging around she realized all the ingredients for trail mix were present. 'That ought to be tasty enough and keep the goblins out of trouble should they decide to try cooking again.' She grabbed the necessary bags and sat them on the counter next to the mixing bowl and serving bowls she'd washed the night before. Thoughtfully she stood on her tiptoes and got another bowl down. An appreciative sigh graced her ears. Sarah turned, thinking her healthy imagination was playing tricks on her.

Jareth had commandeered a kitchen chair and was sprawled leisurely in it, watching her with rapt attention.

"I'm going to make us trail mix, would you like some too?"

"More of your famous exploded food?"

"No." Sarah said, shaking her head. Murpl heaved a tragic sigh. 'I wonder if the White House sanctions serving things like trail mix to visiting royalty?'

"Then I would love to sample some, precious."

The pet name and sigh her ears had thought they heard combined with the sight of the Goblin King making one of the Williams' kitchen chairs look far better than it did on a day-to-day basis caused Sarah's pulse to race. She shifted her attention back to the bags on the counter, blocking out the finale to the 1812 Overture as it played faintly in her head again and trying to ignore that her hormones were undoubtedly manning the cannons this time. 'The use of a pet name doesn't necessarily imply that he has feelings for me.' She told herself severely. 'Although the way he's been watching me...that could just be my hormones talking though. Deep breaths, deep breaths. Remember what you decided, Sarah. Take it slow. Be calm. Don't rush into anything. Like leaping into his lap and shamelessly making out with him in front of a group of impressionable goblins. You hear that, hormones? Behave yourselves!' Remembering the goblins, Sarah turned to the excited creatures around her. "You guys want to help me make the trail mix?"

"Oh, yes!"

"Sure!"

"Yes 'un!"

"OK, Lady!"

"Is it as good as popcorn?" Murpl asked as she handed him a small bag of raisins.

"Don't worry, Murpl, it's very good." Sarah promised as she distributed the remaining bags. "OK, guys." She said, kneeling and grabbing the mixing bowl. She motioned all the goblins to gather around. "Now I want you guys that don't have a bag to hold onto the mixing bowl." She waited for the goblins to grab the mixing bowl. "Good, now we're going to move it back and forth like this." Sarah demonstrated. "But gently." She emphasized warningly. "Now start shaking." The goblins started shaking enthusiastically. "Gently, guys!" Sarah cautioned. "Alright, now, you guys with the bags pour them into the bowl."

All of the goblins complied eagerly. Not a single goblin had been left out. Jareth watched the woman he loved with his goblins. 'Impressive, Sarah,' he thought, 'they're happy and obeying you. You did it all without threatening them with bodily harm, taking away their pet chickens, or a one-way trip to the Bog. Although, you are making them a snack- not keeping them from making an egg nursery in the throne room. Getting their cooperation for something they want is rather different than stopping them from doing something they want to, but impressive nonetheless.'

"And it's all done! Now put the empty bags in the trashcan and grab a bowl from the pile please."

"Yay!"

"Music 'un time!"

"Alright, Lady."

The Goblin King rose from his chair, grabbed a bowl, and moved imperiously to the front of the line that was forming. This maneuver earned him a reproachful glance from Sarah, but the goblins accepted it as quite natural. Sarah sighed and shrugged with her shoulders, the mixing bowl still in her hands. Normally the goblins dispensed swift justice to line-cutters. 'But if they don't mind, I guess I don't. He is their King, after all. I suppose they expect him to go first.' Sarah held out the mixing bowl for him to dip his own bowl in. "Go on in and make yourself comfortable." She nodded to the doorway as he filled his bowl."

"Thank you, Sarah." He smiled disarmingly at her, eyes dancing mischievously at her off-hand acceptance at his position in line after that lovely, spunky look of reprimand she'd given him. Silently he dared her to make a comment.

She caught the glimmer in his eyes. "You're welcome." Sarah replied, refusing to be baited.

'That's my clever girl.'

Across the street, a pair of eyes gazed at the Williams house. There was no strange car in the driveway. The blinds were closed but he could see lights on inside.

"Mom, you're friends with Mrs. Williams right?"

"Karen? Yes, sweetie. Why do you want to know?"

"Has she ever told you anything about Sarah's boyfriend?"

"Boyfriend? Sarah doesn't have a boyfriend, as far as I know. Her parents have tried to set her up with a couple of wonderful boys, but none of them have lasted with her. Karen's worried she'll never find a boy."


	7. Chapter 7

To Umino Akiko: Hehe, I think this is one of the few situations where stalking is flattering and not creepy…and I have to admit that when I read your review I immediately got a mental image of a person in a trench coat and sunglasses tailing an animated walking book down a street, lol. Thanks for reviewing!

Many thanks to all you kind people who have put this story on your favorites/alerts!

Disclaimer: In case there was any doubt, I don't own Labyrinth. Nor have I ever. Nor do I ever hope to. Labyrinth and its characters are the property of Henson and company. I only came up with various goblin personalities and names.

A slightly ridiculous grin on her face, Sarah yawned and stretched as she opened her eyes. Recalling the dream she'd had, she looked at her closet with her head still on her pillow. A vibrant blush spread across her face.

"I'm blaming hormones and a delayed response to overwhelming visual stimuli." She said, her voice muffled as she briefly buried her face in her pillow. At the sound of her voice there came a metallic clinking from underneath her. She rolled onto her side to see Merlin crawling out on his belly from underneath her bed.

"Ah-hah! So that's where you went." The sheepdog wagged his shaggy tail at her and jumped up so that his front paws rested on the bed in front of her while his back paws were still on the floor, inviting her to rub his head. Sarah tousled his thick, wavy fur. After being reassured of his owner's affection, Merlin retreated to her bedroom door and gave her a meaningful look.

"Gotta take care of some business outside, huh?" Merlin wagged his tail. "Okay boy, just let me grab my robe and slippers." She tossed back the covers, slid out of bed and into her fuzzy blue slippers. Her hand was on the closet door when a memory from the night before overtook her.

"Bye, Lady!"

"See you tomorrow, Lady!"

"Bye!"

"Goodbye, Lady!"

"Bye, guys!" Sarah waved as the goblins began to disappear from her room via the closet.

"Bye 'un Lady!"

Sarah crouched down to hug the musical-loving goblin goodbye. "Bye, Grunch!" It was as Grunch was making his exit that she rose to face the King left behind. "Thank you for a lovely time, Sarah."

"You're welcome." Then hurriedly to fill the silence that was threatening to pounce as he made no move to leave and to thwart the revolt her hormones were trying to stage she spoke. "Maybe you and the goblins could come earlier tomorrow night? There's a musical I want to show them, but it's pretty long." Mismatched eyes looked at her intently. 'Breathe, Sarah, breathe.' In a rush she added, "We could eat dinner while we watch."

"What time would you like us to come over?"

"Around 7:30?"

"7:30 it is then. I take it you mean Aboveground time?"

Her breathing sped up as he moved a little closer. 'He's moving towards the closet. Calm, be calm.' "Yes."

"Until tomorrow then, Sarah."

"Goodbye." She smiled and waved.

He returned the smile and, before she could react, he closed the distance between them. Taking her hand, the one she'd waved thoughtlessly at him, he pressed his lips briefly, fervently to her knuckles. Fixing his eyes to her own wide green ones he said, "I'll be looking forward to it, precious thing." Then he was gone in a magical poof, leaving her standing dumbfounded in front of her closet with her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open slightly in surprise.

Merlin whined urgently. With a jolt Sarah pulled her right hand away from her face where she'd been dreamily brushing her lips against her knuckles. "Sorry, Merlin." She flung open the door and snatched her bathrobe. Pulling it on, she followed her dog out of her room, down the stairs and to the back door.

Jareth lowered himself into the steaming bath. Blissfully he closed his eyes, a picture of contentment. A grin lazily spread across his face. Opening his eyes he conjured a crystal and caused it to levitate in front of him as he luxuriated in the bath. A sigh escaped him as the crystal replayed his favorite moment from her dream - their dream- of the night before. He actually hadn't planned on joining her dream last night. After he'd kissed her hand, he had left her delightfully thunderstruck and off-balance. 'Off-balance and anticipating tonight, if her dream is an accurate guide.' He thought happily. But it had been oh so delicious to drift away to sleep and find himself on a beach with Sarah. He could've left.

"But I'm not THAT generous, love." He remarked as he watched Sarah snuggle into him happily as they lay in the sand. She propped herself up on her elbows and traced random patterns across his bare chest. "Definitely not that generous." He said hungrily.

'Now what's a suitable meal for a troop of goblins and a King?' Sarah mused as she pushed a shopping cart along the aisles. 'If it was just the goblins we could have hot-dogs and chips.' She thought. 'And I wouldn't be spending money on frivolous things, either.' The brand new razor, fresh packet of razor blades, and brand name scented shaving cream - normally she bought whatever was cheapest- had been the first items to go in the cart. As she caught herself brushing her knuckles against her lips and humming, she observed wryly that the items weren't going to be leaving the cart before she checked out either.

The cart came to a squeaky stop in front of the pasta section. Pasta, as Karen had once told her when her father had to have some bigwig from the firm over dinner, can feed prince and peasant alike. Sarah browsed among the boxes. 'I can make a salad to go with it, but which pasta to choose? Are there any major differences between pasta types besides shape and whether it's wheat or not?'

"I like The Little Mermaid too." A young voice said conversationally to Sarah.

Sarah abruptly left off humming and brushing her knuckles against her lips. 'Bad, Sarah, bad!' She chided herself. "Yeah, it's a really good movie, huh?"

From her seat in the front of her mother's shopping cart, the little blonde girl nodded. "Yep!" She looked to be a year or two younger than Toby.

An woman in her mid-thirties with light red hair stuck a box of spaghetti in her cart, patting her daughter gently on the head. She smiled at Sarah in a friendly manner. Her smile turned knowing on seeing the contents of Sarah's cart and doing the mental arithmetic of adding the items up to her clearly day-dreaming-esque behavior. "Making dinner for your boyfriend?"

"Something like that." Sarah admitted, embarrassed.

"Spaghetti's always good. It's one of those foods that pretty much everyone likes." The woman advised.

"Thanks, I think I will make spaghetti." Sarah replied, grateful for input but still embarrassed. She pulled down a box of spaghetti, checked the serving capacity, and grabbed down another as the woman pushed her cart away with a friendly parting smile for Sarah. The little girl was now singing "Part of Your World" and kicking her short legs happily. Exhaling heavily, Sarah chose a jar of tomato sauce from the conveniently located nearby array of sauces.

'Of course the Goblin King would just pick the night when I was going to introduce the goblins to animated movies to come back into my life.' The realization that she'd included two Disney movies in the evening's selection hadn't hit her until she reached for the DVDs when it came time to vote. Jareth, bemused at her insistence on democracy, noticed when she panicked briefly and hid the movies behind her back, unsuccessfully as it turned out.

"I don't know," he'd said innocently after she'd read the remaining choices, interrupting her before she could call for a vote and tapping his chin, "somehow none of these sound appealing. Perhaps what you have hidden behind your back will be more alluring."

Glowering at him, Sarah had presented The Little Mermaid. She managed to hide Beauty and the Beast behind it. There were just too many dance sequences in that movie for her comfort in such company. Of course when he raised his hand, the goblins loyally raised theirs as well.

The expression on his face as she'd settled into the chair matching his own on the other side of the couch came back to her. He'd clearly been amused as he sat there eating trail mix with gloved fingers. 'So much for democracy.' She snorted. 'He must've known he would be the one making a decision, regardless of the vote. I should've guessed as much. Although in my defense, I was distracted.' The fruit display caught her eye as she wheeled into the produce section. 'He makes SUCH a nice distraction.' Whispered her one-track mind as she came to the bin containing peaches. It was a statement Sarah could hardly refute. 'Fruit is most definitely not on the menu though.' She told herself firmly.

'After that dream last night, I don't think I could so much as look at a peach in his presence without blushing. I had a hard enough time convincing the goblins I'm not suffering from some rare color-changing disease; I don't want to open that can of worms again. Honestly, I haven't even touched a peach in the last five years.' A bag of cherry tomatoes landed in the back of the cart courtesy of the champion of the Labyrinth. Sarah's aversion to peaches had been so strong that they hadn't even appeared in her dreams. But a peach had made an appearance last night. Her dream, Sarah concluded as she selected a head of lettuce, had been the product of Disney meets overwhelming visual stimuli.

She had dreamt of walking along a gorgeous beach with Jareth. The dress she had worn had been a glittery affair that looked as if she had raided Ariel's wardrobe. It was practically an exact replica of what the red-headed princess had worn after she'd risen from the waves courtesy of King Triton's trident. Jareth had been clad in all black and had been eating a peach as they strolled together.

'Which is a completely ridiculous outfit when you stop to think about it.' Sarah thought as she maneuvered past an elderly shopper. 'Who wears black to the beach?' Although he had looked incredible, not ridiculous in the least. Better than incredible, her hormones informed her as they fast-forwarded to the part where he had offered her a bite of his peach. It had been exceptionally juicy and some of the liquid had run down her chin. Smoothly, Jareth had leaned forward and kissed the liquid off her, lapping with his tongue. In her dream, Sarah had shivered.

Waiting in the check-out line, Sarah shivered just thinking about it.

At that point, Jareth had murmured something in his charming accent about her being cold. He then took off his shirt and pulled it over her head. Then somehow they'd ended up lying down, cuddling in the sand - him shirtless and her wearing his shirt over her dress.

Thinking of the Goblin King in all his bare-chested glory caused Sarah to shiver yet again. 'That has to be the most vivid dream I've had in my entire life.' Sarah decided as she swiped her credit card.

'Normally I remember what happens in my dreams, but never with such ...detail.' Flashing back to the thought of shirtless Jareth, her mouth felt dry. Vaguely Sarah wondered why it was taking her so long to load her groceries into the car. She swallowed, trying to bring some moisture into her mouth. The knuckles of her hand mashed up against her lips as she swallowed. "Ahhg!" With great focus, Sarah concentrated on loading the remainder of the plastic bags with both hands and pushed the cart into a metal pen with its fellows.

"One thing's for certain," the brunette told herself, inserting her key in the ignition, " I definitely have feelings for him." Her knuckles tingled in agreement from where her hands curved around the steering wheel. 'The hard thing is going to be keeping my hormones under control long enough to find out if he feels the same.' Banishing Jareth to the back of her mind temporarily, Sarah put the car in reverse and pulled out of the parking space. Goblin Kings, particularly when they're shirtless, are not conducive to safe driving habits and the last thing Sarah Williams needed at the moment was to begin drooling over a mythical King and get in a wreck.

"Eh?"

"What mix?"

"It's called trail mix." Smidge explained to a group of goblins who didn't frequent Sarah's nightly parties. "The Lady put a bunch of things together and we ate it."

"What sort of things?"

"Tasty things?" A goblin with a wide face and a shock of purple hair inquired.

Smidge nodded. "It was very good."

"So if we put a bunch of tasty things together we can make the trail mix?" A female with wild gray hair mused.

Jareth had just risen from his throne with an impatient glance at the clock and overheard this statement on his way to the tower window - he'd been considering gifting Hoggle with a rain cloud to rain only on him for a day to alleviate his boredom. "Oh no you don't." He kicked a goblin out of the room for emphasis. "If any of you tries to make trail mix without explicit instructions from Sarah and permission from me, you will be subjected to a brand new punishment."

This caused the goblins to pause. "New punishment?"

"What type of puneeshmeent, majeesty?" A small goblin lisped curiously.

Jareth considered. "Anyone caught making trail mix without complying to my stipulations will clean the throne room with their own hair - thoroughly. Then they will swim one lap in the Bog while reciting 'I-will-not-make-trail-mix-unless-the-King-says-so'."

The goblins oohed and ahhed in appreciative horror and awe. Temporarily at least, they abandoned thoughts of trail mix.

"Anyone for a chicken race?"

"Ohhhhh! I bet the speckled one will win!"

"Nahhhh...the brown one eesh the beest."

Jareth ran his fingers through his hair, groaning. He cast yet another glance at the clock. Five and a half hours to go. 'Maybe I could make rain clouds for all the goblins?'


	8. Chapter 8

To Pixaria: Why yes, yes it is. : ) Kudos to you for being the first person to spot that ( at least that I know of).

To notwritten: Thanks! : )

To HachimansKitsune: Yay! Glad you're liking it : ) I'm not going to lie…I had a lot of fun brainstorming punishments, hehe.

To DarkDreamer1982: Awww, thanks! : )

Many thanks to all you wonderful folks who have added this story to your alerts/favorites! Extra special hugs to all my reviewers! Y'all are so sweet and nice - I really appreciate you taking the time to drop me a line.

Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth. It belongs to Henson and company. I did, however, come up with the various goblin personalities and names mentioned.

Sarah hummed along to her iPod, plugged into the combination charger and speaker, as she ran her new razor down the last patch of shaving cream. 'This shaving cream was definitely worth the few extra bucks.' Her skin felt moisturized and the cream left its slightly fruity scent behind on her skin - neither of which the bargain brands did. Rising from the tub, she pulled the stopper over the drain and toweled herself dry.

Now singing merrily along to the music, Sarah slid into her nice matching set of lace-trimmed black underwear- bought from Victoria's Secret on a purely feminine whim to have something nice for herself the week before she'd started college. Wearing her fancy underwear gave Sarah, in some obscure fashion, confidence and made her feel attractive. It had become something of a private tradition for her to wear her "confidence unmentionables", as she mentally dubbed them, when she took what she expected to be her hardest final exam each semester. The lingerie didn't magically provide her with the answers, but it certainly gave her morale a significant boost. "I can use any extra morale boost the confidence unmentionables can give me with Jareth around." Sarah remarked, tying the sash on her fluffy lavender terrycloth bathrobe.

Opening the cabinet beneath the sink, Sarah pulled out a sponge and scouring cleanser. She sprinkled the cleansing agent liberally about the tub. Her voice joined the music coming over the speaker again as she began to scrub.

"Each morning I get up, I die a little. Can't barely stand on my feeeet! Take a look in the mirror and cry - Lord, whatcha doin' to me?"

The tub was cleaned enthusiastically to the musical accompaniment of Queen, featuring the vocal styling of Sarah Williams.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Sarah Williams!" Sarah proclaimed in an announcer voice in a moment of whimsy. "The only rock star to use a sponge as a microphone!" As she replaced the cleaning implements, the brunette cast a critical eye on the nails of the fingers around said microphone-sponge.

"I do believe," she closed the cabinet and opened a drawer, "that a minor manicure may be in order." Sarah decided, rifling through the drawer in search of nail trimmers and a file. When she found what she sought, Sarah laid the items on the counter next to the speaker. A quick finger on the navigation wheel of her iPod soon gave her the time. 6:00 P.M. 'I have plenty of time.' She hopped up to sit cross-legged on the counter and began to make her nails presentable. 'The salad's made and in the fridge, and the cutlery is all set up.' Sarah had laid out places for the goblins on the low table in front of the couch. A TV tray rested in front of both of the matching chairs that flanked the couch for herself and Jareth. Sarah had thought water a prudent drink to serve. She doubted she would be able to ascertain the Goblin King's emotions toward herself if his subjects went on a caffeine-induced frenzy in the living room. 'So all I have to do is fix the spaghetti and heat the sauce - which should take about fifteen to twenty minutes max.' Finishing her right hand, Sarah switched her attention to her left. 'I want the food to be as warm as possible when they get here so I should wait till about ten till seven to start cooking. In the meantime, I'd better get dressed and fix my hair.'

Sarah held her nails out for inspection. "Better." Satisfied, she slid off the counter and tidied up the bathroom. Nat King Cole - her iPod was on shuffle - was interrupted mid-song as the iPod was paused and the speaker unplugged from the wall.

"Unforgettable" resumed serenading Sarah as she plugged the speaker into the wall outlet in her room and hit play. The fruits of Sarah's most difficult endeavor of the day, namely picking out an outfit after she got back from the grocery store, laid waiting on her bed.

She had settled on a three-tiered, ruffled light blue skirt that reached to just above her knees and a button-up white blouse with three-quarter sleeves. The clothes were picked up off the bed and Sarah relocated out of the range of her mirror's reflection - a precautionary habit she picked up to avoid inadvertently flashing her friends should they call unexpectedly.

With her eyes half-closed dreamily in appreciation of the music, to which came the stimulating visual mental accompaniment of a shirtless Goblin King tenderly cuddling her in the sand and whispering to her sweetly, Sarah donned her chosen outfit. Leaving the top button undone on her blouse, she moved in front of her mirror and surveyed her appearance. 'Not too shabby.' Sarah thought, pulling her hair out of the messy bun she'd restrained it in as she'd run about the house getting ready. With far more care than she usually exerted, Sarah brushed and combed her thick mane of hair. While primping in the mirror like a shameless prima donna, Sarah spotted a flaw in her appearance.

"Oh, CRUD." Rising from her vanity, Sarah looked through her closet in search of another blouse. The lacy black confidence brassiere was a clearly visible sight underneath the thin white cotton. Thanking heaven that she'd spotted her wardrobe malfunction in time, Sarah pushed aside clothes until she came across a light brown t-shirt. 'Hmmm…that might work.' The shirt was pulled off of the hanger. Moving to the side of her vanity, Sarah unceremoniously peeled off her white blouse and tossed it on the bed. She pulled on the light mahogany colored shirt and moved in front of the mirror, turning from side to side experimentally. 'Well, this actually looks pretty good.' With her dressy casual look preserved, Sarah sat back down at her vanity and proceeded to pull her hair back in a simple silver barrette. Her jean and t-shirt ensemble of the night before hadn't helped her confidence when confronted with the Goblin King in all his tailor-made glory - she forcibly kept her mind off of just how tailored to fit like a second skin his pants were- but she wasn't about to have dinner with him in heels and the dress she'd worn to her senior prom. The prom which Karen had forced her to go to. In choosing what to wear, she'd struck for the middle ground. Sarah slid her feet into her black ballerina flats and gave herself a final once-over in the mirror.

'No underwear is visible, my hair is as brushed out as its ever going to need to be - I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be. Thank heaven I noticed my bra was showing before they got here. What would he have said if he'd seen me like that?' Occupied with Jareth's possible responses to her averted fashion catastrophe, Sarah went downstairs to start boiling water for the spaghetti.

"Wheeeee!" Called the goblin with the lopsided horn as he slid down the slight incline that led down into the town square of the Goblin City.

The square was getting a much-needed scouring as a result of the personalized rain clouds over the heads of all the goblins that had been in and anywhere near the vicinity of the throne room when their monarch had let out a frustrated sigh. One minute they had been organizing a chicken race around the throne, the next thing they knew they were in front of the castle getting soaked.

Grunch giggled happily as he followed some of his fellow goblins down their rain cloud assisted paving stone waterslide.

"Eeek!" Smidge shrieked as a miniature bolt of lightning from her cloud shocked her.

"Ooooo!" Murpl exclaimed. "Was it fun? Did it hurt?"

"No!" Smidge replied with a characteristic pout. "It just surprised me." She shoved Murpl out of the way to trek back up the small hill.

The shove transmitted a small shock. "Wow!" Murpl cried in awe. "Check it out! I sort of just exploded!"

"Huh?" A goblin with curly black hair and a hooked nose slid into the blue goblin.

"Whoa!" The goblin yelped as his skin came in contact with Murpl's. Thus the goblins discovered that they were excellent conductors of electricity. Not that the goblins realized this exactly. They just put it together that if the sparkly thing shot out of the cloud and hit you then you would get an interesting strong tingly feeling. That's when the real fun begins because touching another goblin gives them the tingly feeling too.

After almost five and a half hours of the goblins running around giving each other the tingly feeling, their ruler materialized in the soggy square.

"King 'un!"

"Hello, King!"

"Your majesty!"

"Hey, King!" Murpl jumped up and down in front of Jareth excitedly. "Look what I can do!" With great aplomb he reached out a finger pruny from saturation to touch a nearby compatriot.

The recipient of the tingly feeling squealed as he was shocked. Then he cheered.

Jareth added 'rain cloud above head' to the list of good distractions and nixed it from the list of possible punishments in his brain. It had been nice to sit in his throne room alone and plan. The planning consisted of ways to get Sarah alone. He was entirely confident of his ability to romance his Queen-elect, but he didn't think Sarah would respond well to his advances in front of, nor did he really relish the thought of, an audience - especially not an audience made up of his goblins. A musical laugh escaped the Goblin King's thin lips as he watched said goblins shock each other.

"Well, you ingrates seem to have enjoyed yourselves." The goblins let out another joyous whoop. "As amusing as this is," Jareth continued bemusedly as Smidge vengefully shocked the goblin with the lopsided horn, "it's time to go to Sarah's." Producing a crystal with a refined motion, he tossed it in the midst of his drenched subjects. Another sphere saw Jareth and ten or so suddenly dry goblins disappear from the Goblin City to reappear in Sarah's bedroom.

Five minutes previously…

Beeeeep! The timer's shrill call admonished the brunette as she secured a lid over the steaming pot of spaghetti. With a cry, Sarah ran from the kitchen and then back into it. Her fingers fumbled with the knot on the worn apron.

"C'mon, c'mon! They'll be here in five minutes!" The knot loosened its stranglehold around her waist. "Finally!" She threw the apron over the back of a chair and hastened up the staircase, taking the stairs two at a time. Skidding to a stop in front of her vanity, Sarah directed her eyes toward the clock on her nightstand. 7:27 P.M. Hastily she adjusted a few strands of hair and sprang onto her bed, adjusting her skirt and grabbing Pride and Prejudice in the process. She focused on exuding a calm and poised presence; she focused on not being a nervous wreck while waiting for her former nemesis that she'd had the hots for since she was fifteen to show up.

'Yeah, right. As if I'm anything but nervous.' Sarah let out a very unladylike snort. Her stomach churned. 'I don't think I've been this nervous since my first date.' Her stomach churned insistently as she remembered what a disaster that had been. Ben Trowsky had taken her to the homecoming dance her freshman year of high school.

Ben was a year older than her - tall, blonde, blue eyes. She'd refused to even think his appearance through as having any higher meaning only a few months after running the ultimate thirteen hour obstacle course. They had a fairly nice time until another girl had bumped into them and spilled punch on her cream-colored dress - again she'd refused to read anything into her slightly poofy dress choice at the time. The punch had plastered her dress to her chest, ruining the dress and making her cleavage pretty much visible for all and sundry. Ben had led her, feeling humiliated beyond belief as only an early adolescent can, out of the school gym. He then proceeded to "help" her dry off. Sarah, tears of anger and embarrassment springing to eyes over the incident and subsequent attempted groping at the hands of her first ever date, had run off to call her Dad from her cell phone to pick her up. The battery on her phone was dead. She then marched down to the pay phone in front of a nearby drug store with her carefully applied make-up smeared and her dress stained, and sadly rumpled. That was when she realized she had forgotten to put some money into her nice, small matching cream-colored clutch. Then Sarah had the unmitigated joy of walking home in a ruined dress with her body feeling sticky from the punch and violated at her date's attempt at unwanted physical contact. Thus ended the Labyrinth champion's first date and desire to attend any further school dances hence why Karen had to force her to go to prom.

"But Jareth is most definitely not Ben Trowsky." The fluttering in her stomach started up again. 'Ben couldn't pull off those pants in a million years…bad Sarah! Don't think about the pants!'

It was while Sarah was reprimanding herself to keep her thoughts off of his majesty's sinfully clinging breeches that the clock flickered 7:30 P.M and a king plus ten or so goblins appeared before her.


	9. Chapter 9

To Pixaria: Haha, indeed! : )

To HachimansKitsune: lol, not just lucky underwear…but _fancy_ lucky underwear!

To notwritten : Thanks much! : )

To The Silent Hunter : We all know resistance is futile when it comes to the pants, hehehe. : ) Glad you're enjoying it!

Disclaimer: Labyrinth is the property of Henson and company. I don't own it! The only thing I came up with are various goblin personas.

All higher thought processes temporarily went completely off-line in Sarah's brain. It was as if a hormone-goblin had crept into her cerebellum and, cackling maniacally, pulled the switch supplying power to her cranium.

Jareth was clad entirely in shades of midnight. Shiny, glossy black boots shone on his feet. The boots rode up to his calves, stopping just shy of his knees where they gave way to form-fitting, definitely tailor-made, black leather breeches. Snugly clinging to his frame, the leather clearly emphasized, as all his pants seemed to do, the well-defined musculature of his legs. Tucked into the waist of his breeches was one of his traditional loose, flowing shirts in ebony silk. The shirt hung open in a v to show his medallion and lightly muscled pale chest. His hands were covered in his customary gloves-in black leather, matching his pants.

Sarah's brain, which had shut down at the sight of the Goblin King arrayed in the clothing of her dreams yet again, melted into a steaming puddle when her emerald eyes fell on the black silk she'd dreamt of him wearing...taking off...putting on her. Her befuddled brain submitted to Sarah that she definitely felt a draft and that as a gentleman he should definitely give her his shirt and show off the rest of his sculpted chest that his neckline was giving such a tantalizing peep-show of. Enthusiastically, her hormones seconded the motion.

"Lady 'un?" Grunch climbed up onto the bed and poked the champion of the Labyrinth gingerly in the side.

"Huh?" Sarah replied distantly.

"Lady 'un ok?" Grunch reiterated, concerned.

Sarah swallowed. "Yeah...uhhhh...it's just...your clothes!"

Jareth chuckled at the oddly strung, dazed comment directed his way. "Why, Sarah! You didn't seem to find any fault with my apparel last night." He punctuated his response with a wicked grin.

The gooey, gelatinous mass that had been masquerading as Sarah's brain abruptly solidified. 'Last night...oh. OH. OH!' Sarah was torn between flinging herself underneath the covers in embarrassment and subjecting the insufferably gorgeous King before her to a piece of her mind at the rudeness of prying into another's very personal, very private dreams.

"Lady, are you alright?" Smidge inquired, hopping up next to Grunch.

"You changin' again!"

"Yous sure you ain't sick, Lady?"

Grunch peered up at her anxiously. "You 'un red."

That clenched it. "Would you guys please head downstairs and take your seats? I need to talk to your King alone for a moment." Her voice was ice, frozen winter with a dangerous fire lurking beneath it.

Jareth, who had been eyeing her blush contemplatively, delighted that he had succeeded in causing it to reappear, perked up from his musings at the mention of a private chat with his champion. He'd been hoping for one ever so much. A gleeful smirk spread across his face and his eyes gleamed two different colors.

"No, I'm not sick and I'll take whoever's turn it is up and down the stairs twice before you leave." Sarah quelled the argument before it started in that same dangerous tone.

The Goblin King inclined his head to his minions, and they left the room without further comment. Sarah rose from her bed and shut the door forcefully, refraining from slamming it with the greatest of will power.

"Eager to have me to yourself after last night, Sarah mine?" Jareth drawled buried the thrilled tingle that shot through her body at the Goblin King calling her his beneath her fury. "How long have you been watching my dreams?" She asked icily, folding her arms across her chest.

"After our rather...regretful parting five years ago, I have been sadly inhibited by your declaration at the end of your run." He settled himself on the edge of her bed, lounging in a cat-like manner, and patting the space next to him invitingly.

Sarah glowered at him.

"Come now, precious, if we're going to carry on a discussion we may as well be comfortable whilst we do so."

Maintaining her cool composure, Sarah sat down about three feet from him.

"Much better." Jareth flashed her a charming half-smile.

'This is the closest I've been to him since the tunnel. Oh, lord, but he smells incredible...eep! Focus, Sarah! He's been spying on your dreams!' Sarah took a cleansing breath, valiantly ignoring the tempting scent of leather and spices. "You were saying?"

"Well, as per your decree I literally had no power over you. I've been able to see you in my crystals and watch you in my avian form from a respectable distance. Your dreams were entirely out of my grasp, however."

"You've been watching me?" Sarah interrupted, shocked out of her chilly tone.

"Checking up on you, yes, "Jareth confirmed, "as best as my limited powers allowed."

"But you can see my dreams now?" Sarah's face scrunched up in confusion and thought. "So that means..."

Jareth finished her sentence. "I apparently have some power over you after all."

"How?" Her emerald eyes widened in alarm.

"You spoke my name aloud." His tone was soft, gentle. Then a smirk tugged up the corners of his lips. "You were under the effects of one of your delightful dreams, involving a tunnel in my Labyrinth, at the time."

Sarah shot off the bed. His nearness was provoking her hormones to re-enact said tunnel dream. "Just because you're able to spy on my dreams doesn't mean you should! A person's dreams are private."

"Are you insinuating that I've violated your privacy, Sarah?" Jareth inquired, retaining his seat on the bed and reveling in the sight of her. 'She's so beautiful.' He thought, drinking in her bright eyes and skin, flushed from emotion.

"You admitted to spying on two of my dreams so I would say yes." Sarah hissed, hands on her hips.

"I have watched every dream involving me that you have had save last night's." Jareth rose from the bed to face his irate champion. Indeed, there had been several hours worth of dreams for his viewing pleasure and they had afforded him no little enjoyment.

"You arrogant jerk!" Sarah sputtered angrily. "You know what you were wearing in it and you have the gall to tell me you didn't watch it?"

"Yes, because it is the truth." He stalked towards her, a lithe jungle cat closing in on its prey.

"The truth?" Sarah jumped as her back came into contact with the wood of her door. She'd been backing up to leave some space between herself and the cause of so many conflicting emotions. Her swallow was audible as he closed the distance between them, pausing about a foot from her.

"I didn't watch your dream, precious. I joined it."

Rapidly Sarah's anger was evaporating at the nearness of his presence. "You joined it?" She queried, rather breathlessly to her dismay. 'Get a grip on yourself, Sarah. He's been looking at your dreams! Don't be swayed by those eyes, that incredibly soft-looking hair, the wonderful way he smells, those oh-so-kissable li-stop it hormones!'

"Yes," Jareth repeated, moving closer still, "I joined your dream in the same manner that I once joined you at a ball."

"That was really you? In the ballroom and on the beach..." Sarah stuttered to a halt at the implications of answered questions. 'If that was really him then he...he must have some feelings for me - possibly, maybe, hopefully. After all it takes two to dance and two to cuddle. That definitely wasn't one-sided cuddling on that beach.'

"My dream-self, yes." Jareth affirmed. Gently he brushed back a stray strand of hair that had come loose behind her ear. His gloved fingers lingered. "As much as I enjoyed our dream though, I must say that I prefer the real you." He lightly ran his fingers over the edge of the ear they had been resting against, moving down to cup her cheek.

It felt as if every muscle and bone in Sarah's body had spontaneously disintegrated and the only thing keeping her from sliding to the floor was the gloved hand tenderly caressing her cheek. Then Jareth raised his left arm, splaying his palm against the door as he leaned down closer. Silently Sarah dazedly decided that she preferred the real thing over the dream as well. All coherent thoughts broke down into snippets of pure excitement as Jareth brought his face to hers and...

"Lady? King?"

"Lady 'un?"

"Do you hear anything?"

"No 'un...Lady! King 'un!"

Jareth and Sarah both jumped in surprise as knocks and voices sounded on the door.

Sarah pivoted in Jareth's grasp and opened the door to expose Grunch and Murpl hovering at the threshold. "What is it guys?" Her voice was a trifle unsteady and definitely irritated.

Jareth shared her irritation and made a mental note to devise a suitable punishment for interrupting the King when engaged in a private discussion with the Lady. It would have to be something devious and severe. Briefly Jareth entertained the idea of simply bogging the cretins as they explained that they were hungry and had wondered what was taking the Lady so long.

"Oh, no!" Sarah exclaimed, disturbed from her inner pouting at being interrupted.

"Dinner! I hope it hasn't gotten cold." She set off down the hallway, trailed closely by the two goblins. Momentarily she stopped and looked at the King still standing in her doorway. 'Is he...pouting?' The look on the Goblin King's face reminded her very much of the expression Toby wore when denied a cookie before dinner so as not to ruin his appetite. 'And I'm the cookie.' Joy surged through her to overcome her worry over cold spaghetti and irritation that they had been interrupted in the middle of a dream come to life. The realization that he wanted to kiss her as much as she wanted him to kiss her made her want to knock him down and lock lips until they ran out of oxygen. "You coming?" She inquired, giving him her very best 'come hither' look.

Jareth responded to that look- a look that had him considering reordering time or sending all goblins present back to the castle in a shower of glitter or better yet transporting himself and Sarah back to his chambers, so he could take her in his arms and kiss her senseless, then pursue other delightful activities that sprang to mind- in the only manner possible. Well, the only manner possible that didn't involve the use of magic. He came hither, sauntering up to her with a smoldering look.

The intense blue and brown fire dancing in his mismatched gaze caused Sarah to clear her throat as she resumed her path down the hallway on knees that felt alarmingly weak all of a sudden. Remembering the original issue as they descended the staircase, she spoke. "In the future, I would appreciate it if you don't watch my dreams. If we're sharing a dream, that is if you join a dream...I...uhh...guess that's fine but please tell me that it's really you."

The Goblin King's trademark smug smirk popped up at her obvious refusal to tell him to not share dreams with her in the future. "I'll refrain from looking at your dreams without your permission." He agreed silkily. "Knowing how fond you are of fairness," he continued slyly, "I will have to allow you to view the dreams I've had about you, precious. It is only fair after all."

A sudden urge to giggle like a first grader with her first crush and turn cartwheels hit the girl next to the Goblin King. 'He's had dreams about me! Keep it together, Sarah. The polite and correct thing to do would be to say that that's not necessary but... he did look at my dreams and...' Sarah shot for the middle ground. "That does seem like the fair thing to do." She said evenly as they reached the bottom of the staircase, neither encouraging nor discouraging the idea. She was torn between her principles and her curiosity. 'He can interpret that however he wants...hopefully he'll interpret it so that I can see if he's dreamed about that tunnel as often as I have. Urg! Keep it cool, Sarah. You don't want to look over-eager do you? Down, hormones! Behave yourselves!' Still working on her neutral demeanor, Sarah said. "You guys go ahead and have a seat. I'll go get the food to dip up."

'Oh, Sarah, love, you really want to view my dreams don't you?' Jareth thought, delighted by her response and not at all fooled by her feigned indifference. Attentively he watched the sway of Sarah's hips until she disappeared from view. Then he switched his attention to the seating arrangement. And frowned.

"No, that's MY glass!"

"Eeeek! Get ya bum off mah hand!"

"Music is good, but exploded food is the best." Murpl asserted.

"Music 'un is the best!" Grunch shot back indignantly.

"I like them both." The goblin with the lopsided horn put in.

"Humph! Wishy-washy." Smidge muttered darkly. She was in a snit because the goblin with the lopsided horn was sitting in the spot she wanted.

Intent on their various squabbles, the bickering goblins didn't notice the crystal until it crashed down upon them.

Sarah emerged from the kitchen, balancing the pot of spaghetti in the crook of one arm and the salad bowl in the other. Dinner nearly fell on the floor when she caught sight of the living room. There were four goblins crowded into one chair and five squeezed into its twin on the other side of the couch. On the couch itself, Jareth was sprawled out with his legs apart and his arms resting along the upper ridge of the couch. Next to him there was an empty space then Grunch and Murpl were seated on the far end of the couch, still arguing over whether music or exploded food was superior.

Jareth shrugged elegantly with his shoulders, leaving his arms stationary. "The seating arrangement required improvement." He replied to her questioning look. Sarah sat down the food on the table with an exasperated sigh. "Jareth, now the goblins don't have enough room."

"Nonsense, they could care less." He gestured to his subjects. The goblins, after the initial shock of finding themselves seated in different spots, had adjusted and continued their conversations.

"I'm going to go grab the water jug." Sarah massaged her forehead.

"Hurry back, precious." Jareth purred.

Turning her back on the ridiculously sexy Goblin King lounging on the couch, Sarah trudged back into the kitchen. She lingered in front of the open refrigerator a little longer than necessary, letting the cool air hit her face. 'My will is strong. I can get through the Phantom of the Opera without losing control of my hormones and pouncing on him and making out with him...aghh!'


	10. Chapter 10

To HachimansKitsune : Awww, thanks! : ) My hormones also talk to me like that, lol…I think it's pretty much a common symptom throughout the Labyrinth fandom

To notwritten: Thanks much! : )

To TrashedXandXScattered : Why thank you! : ) I always like to hear people say they like my goblins since they're my lil brain children. And yes, surviving Phantom while sitting next to the Goblin King….Sarah's will must be strong indeed.

To Pixaria : No, no it won't, hehe. : ) I have also heard the Wicked movie rumors and I am totally psyched for it, hopefully they don't get too many fancy ideas and decide not to use Cheno or Idina Menzel.

To The Silent Hunter : No one can work the pants like Jareth! So glad you're enjoying it : )

To Lis : Yay, I'm glad you're liking it! : )

Thanks to all of you who have added this story to your alerts/favorites! The notifications always make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. : )

Disclaimer: Henson and company own Labyrinth. I don't.

There was a collective gasp from the Underground contingent as Raoul fell beneath the water.

"Raoul! NooOOoooO!"

"I can't watch 'un!" Grunch hid his face behind Sarah's elbow.

"It's alright, Grunch. Look." Sarah whispered to the goblin cuddled next to was a universal sigh of relief from the majority of the goblins. Murpl consisted of the minority not relieved by the vicomte's escape from drowning. The Phantom had won the little blue goblin's unwavering devotion after an impressive display of pyrotechnics.

"Maybe the Phantom'll do some more exploding and keep Raoul away." Murpl said hopefully.

"Numskull! Raoul's the hero!" Smidge smacked Murpl upside the head. She had migrated to the armrest of the chair next to the goblin side of the couch.

"Yeah!"

"Idiot!"

Grunch sniffed haughtily and snuggled closer to Sarah, moving further away from his villain-supporting compatriot.

"Quiet!" Jareth barked imperiously. "I can not hear over your idiotic chatter."

Silence reigned once more in the room as the audience stared spellbound at the finale unfolding before them on the screen. Sarah snuck a peek at the King sitting next to her while the love triangle sang their hearts out. The planes and angles of his face were just visible in the dim glow of the television as he stared at the drama before him. She felt his eyes flickering to her own face and quickly cemented her gaze back on the Phantom as he belted out his passionate ultimatum. Somehow she felt it when his eyes focused back on the movie, lost in the story once again.

'This is a fairly normal reaction to being in almost darkness. It's just like being in a movie theater, you become all used to everything around you in the dark that you notice if the people around you move all of a sudden.'

Sitting next to an arrogant Goblin King, who just happened to be wildly attractive and who Sarah just happened to be wildly attracted to, had turned a normal reaction into practically a hypersensitivity. The gradual shift of Jareth's arm throughout the saga of opera and high romance so that the tips of his gloved fingers now just barely brushed her left shoulder had been felt by Sarah with excruciating awareness. Forcefully ignoring the sensation of a fingertip just barely touching brown cotton, she focused on the tragic scene before her.

'Poor Phantom.' Onscreen, tears began to trickle down the musical genius' unmasked face as Christine sailed away with Raoul. 'If he'd been a little less psycho in his game plan and not gone all crazy murderer-you belong to me-marry me or die then he would have gotten the girl. Compared to him, Raoul's a pansy. A little 'hey Christine, I'm not the spirit of your father and I'm totally in love with you' at the beginning would have cleared everything up. But then we wouldn't have our epic musical.'

There were appreciative murmurs from the audience, Murpl in particular delighted by the cacophony of glass splintering at the hands of his hero, as the shattered mirror revealed a hidden passageway. Silence fell over the room once more.

"The Phantom lives!" Murpl hollered in delight, as the close-up of the rose entwined in black ribbon bearing Christine's ring filled the screen.

"Well of course he lives, dummy!" Smidge gave another smack of retribution. "Didn't you see him escape?"

Murpl cradled his arms around his head protectively, warding off any future Smidge-smacks. "I saw!" His eyes turned dreamy as he recalled the Phantom swinging a blunt object into the glass. "It was almost as good as an explosion."

"It was all tinkly and sparkly." A goblin commented from the chair near Jareth.

"Oh, lord, no!" Jareth muttered under his breath, visualizing the goblins trying to 'explode' a mirror. "If any of you so much as think of trying to replicate that stunt, I will have you in a suitable oubliette before you can blink." He stated in a louder tone.

Sarah rose from the couch and flicked on the light switch, smiling widely in amusement. The light revealed Murpl and several other would-be mirror smashers with shoulders slumped in dejection. "So what did you guys think of the mysterious affair of the Phantom of the Opera?" She quoted lightly.

"It 'un beautiful!" Grunch enthused.

"Nice!"

"Was pretty!"

"Perdy!"

"Music almost as good as King singin'!"

"Yeah, almost! Have fleer like King!"

"I think the word you are searching for is 'flair'." Jareth corrected.

"Yep, flair!"

Sarah rolled her eyes as she ejected the DVD, not needing to look back to know there was a vain expression on the Goblin King's face. She couldn't deny the statement, however. 'He certainly does have flair.' She agreed, reflecting on his taste in fashion and love of dramatic entrances. 'And he knows it, too.'

"Christine shoulda chosen the Phantom." Murpl complained, quickly raising his arms up defensively. "He's got flair!"

"Raoul's her true love, moron!" Smidge walloped Murpl's raised arm.

"True 'un love!" Incensed by this declaration against the force of true love, Grunch sunk his teeth into Murpl's other arm.

"Yeeouch!" Murpl exclaimed, bringing his arms to his chest and nursing them protectively.

"Up to a point, I have to agree with Murpl." Jareth commented contemplatively. His voice effectively silenced all discussions. Smidge's fist froze in the air above Murpl's now exposed head, and all eyes turned to the Goblin King, including Sarah's. She, DVD in hand, paused from replacing the movie in the cabinet of the entertainment center and gazed with interest at the blonde-haired King, intrigued to hear what he had to say.

"So Raoul ain't her true love?" A burly goblin asked, bewildered.

"In the end, yes, he was. Love -real love- is after all not an easily transferable commodity. In the beginning, however, Christine was clearly attracted to both men. If the Phantom had refrained from going on a murderous rampage and desisted from attempting to jealously intimidate the lady, she would have undoubtedly reciprocated his feelings. The man had definite flair, but his behavior gave his rival the upper hand in winning Miss Daae's love."

"Not to mention he didn't actually tell her he loved her until it was too late, and Raoul had told her long before that." Sarah added, delighted to find that Jareth shared her soap box. One of the many differences in opinion Sarah shared with her step-mother was Karen's unequivocal belief that Raoul was Christine's true love and that the soprano felt nothing stronger for the disfigured man than compassion.

"Probably because his disfigurement and resulting traumatic childhood made him feel as if it was impossible for another to love him. Tragic, really, but that is-"

"What makes it an opera." Sarah finished. "That's what I've always thought!"

Sarah and Jareth had remained alone in the discussion while the goblins caught up with their thought process, some taking longer than others. Some had given up the effort and were happily playing with the cutlery.

Grunch shook his head sadly. "Poor 'un Phantom."

Murpl nodded his head in agreement. "Christine chose wrong."

Smidge delivered her own particular brand of justice. "Idiot!"

"Stupid-head!"

"It's the Phantom's fault!"

"Killin' is wrong."

"He did have fleer though."

"That's 'flayer'!" A tiny goblin corrected, abandoning the fork he was fondling in his sureness.

"No, it's 'flarr'."

Jareth covered his eyes with a hand and shook his head.

"I think he's right. 'Flayer' sounds right!"

The Goblin King peered at Sarah over his gloved hand with a look that clearly said 'do you see what I have to put up with'. Sarah smiled bemusedly at him.

" 'Flarr' is right."

" 'Fleer' is 'fleer'!"

" 'Flayer' is right!"

"The word is 'flair', guys." Sarah interposed gently, clearly enunciating the problematic word.

"You're sure it's not 'flayer', Lady?"

"Positive." The minute goblin looked rather crestfallen over having his vocabulary claim disproved. With a hand that engulfed his entire shoulder, Sarah patted him consolingly. "You were very close though."

Feeling a familiar gaze upon her, Sarah looked up to find Jareth smiling upon the scene before him in amusement. She returned his smile and his turned into that grin that showed off his canines. It was a wicked grin, a mischievous grin, a grin that promised to make her dreams come to life, a grin that whispered that as soon as possible he was going to corner her and kiss her like she'd never been kissed before, a sinful grin that provoked sinful thoughts. In a rare moment of personal harmony, Sarah's heart, brain and hormones unanimously voted that grin as her favorite of Jareth's facial expressions.

'I bet he tastes just as good as he smells. If not better.' She bit her lower lip and almost swallowed it when his tongue emerged to briefly run over his thin lips. A little guiltily her eyes flickered up to his and the teasing, pleased glimmer she saw there was enough to convince her that he knew exactly what she'd been thinking about.

Clearing her throat, Sarah ruminated that two could play at that game. Inspiration struck. "If you guys will pick up your dirty dishes and follow me to the kitchen, we can have dessert."

"OooOooo!"

"Sweets!"

"Is it popcorn?" Murpl inquired excitedly.

"Personally, it's something I like even better."

The blue goblin was justifiably skeptical over anything that could be better than exploded food- if there even was such a thing- but he proceeded to stack up his dinnerware as the Lady was instructing them to do. Sarah gathered her own soiled flatware together, as quickly as possible to prevent her Jareth-proximity trigger from going off and causing her hormones to rush her brain with the thought that it would be a good idea to jump onto the Goblin King's lap and make-out with him.

'Not that the idea isn't without some merit.' Sarah admitted, carefully placing her respective dishes in a different areas of the sink for stacking purposes. "Would you guys please make a line and hand me your dishes one at a time?"

"Sure thing, Lady!"

"OK!"

"Yes 'un, Lady!"

The image of Jareth's tongue briefly running over those definitely kissable lips assailed her as she began to methodically take and stack plates, bowls, glasses and cutlery. 'If Jareth feels the same about me then that idea is becoming a reality the second I find out.' She thought decisively to the loud approval of her hormones, placing a plate on the pile and realizing that no more dishes were being handed up to her. Her eyes widened a bit and she jumped a little in surprise when the last of the dirty dishes floated in from the right to land gracefully on their respective piles.

Rolling her eyes, Sarah turned to find the Goblin King sprawled in a chair with a smug expression on his face. She shook her head at him, wondering if he'd been sitting there levitating dishes the whole time she'd been at the sink, but smiled anyway. 'It's going to be your turn soon, your majesty.' Sarah thought slyly, giving him a rather coy look that had him arching an upswept eyebrow at her.

"We're having ice cream!" Sarah announced cheerily as she distributed the freshly cleaned bowls that the goblins normally used for movie snacks.

"Woo-hooo!"

"Yippee!"

"Yay!"

"Uhhhh...Lady, what's ice cream?"

"Cream made out of ice?"

"Does it need to be exploded?"

"Is it good?"

"Do you eat it with a fork?" The tiny goblin had become rather fond of the multi-pronged eating utensil.

Sarah counted out the appropriate number of spoons from the silverware drawer. "It's a dessert made from ice, milk, sugar and flavoring. It doesn't need to be exploded and you eat it with a spoon. It's delicious!"

Jareth sat back and admired the view presented by Sarah on her tiptoes rummaging in the top of the refrigerator. 'That outfit is rather fetching, but it would be nice to see her in something more queenly.' He tilted his head and pictured her in raiment befitting a Queen. 'Something in green to match her lovely eyes, perhaps. I'll have to pay a visit to a seamstress soon and commission a wardrobe.'

The goblins watched with attentive curiosity as a tub of chocolate ice cream was deposited on the table. Deciding that it would be appropriate to give the goblins roughly the same amount she gave Toby, Sarah pulled out the ice cream scoop from the silverware drawer. The lid was removed from the ice cream and Sarah ladled out dessert with the expertise of an older sister. With a little hesitation the goblins with filled bowls started in on their treat, while the Lady served those who hadn't gotten any yet.

"Wow!"

"Good 'un!" Grunch cried happily.

The goblin with the lopsided horn quickly filled up his spoon again and shoved it in his mouth. "Yummmmm!" His eyes closed in contentment.

Smidge threw the goblin with the lopsided horn a venomous look as she practically vibrated in place while Sarah filled her bowl. Joyfully she dug in as Sarah moved to Jareth, joining her fellow goblins in their enthusiasm.

"So this is a favorite treat of yours, Sarah?" Jareth inquired, watching her spoon the soft, dark substance into his bowl.

"Yep, chocolate ice cream is definitely my favorite." She handed the Goblin King a spoon. "Go ahead and try it." Out of the corner of her eye she watched him cautiously dip his spoon into his own bowl and gingerly take a bite as she scooped up her own serving of ice cream.

Surprised delight flickered across the Goblin King's face. He swallowed another spoonful, savoring the flavor.

'Perfect.' Sarah pushed the lid down on the almost empty container. She was pleased to note that like always, she'd managed to get some melted ice cream on her fingers. 'Do you like chocolate, your majesty?' Timing was crucial. "So do you like it?" From under her lashes she watched and waited until he looked up to answer. When he did, Sarah took the opportunity to slowly lick the chocolate off her fingers. 'Bet you like it better now! Sweet, sweet revenge...literally, hah.'

The sweet taste of chocolate still in his mouth, Jareth froze as he watched Sarah clean her hands with those lovely full lips and that luscious pink tongue. Promptly Jareth's imagination supplied a very queen-like outfit for Sarah composed of black silk and lace. It was the sort of outfit for a Queen that only the King ever got to see her in. In the midst of his very pleasant musings, Jareth noticed that Sarah was smirking at him. "I love it, precious thing." He purred, grinning at her. Then softly, so only she could hear, he added. "You clever minx."

Twenty minutes or so, and two jaunts up and down the staircase later saw Sarah back in the kitchen. There was a crystal cradled in her hands. It was smooth, pleasantly cool and tingled a bit where it touched her skin.

Sarah caressed the crystal with a thumb and smiled dreamily at it. Merlin, fresh from a long nap underneath her bed, whuffed sleepily at her. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm a silly human, aren't I?" Memory of the night's events came back to her - Jareth almost kissing her, pouting when they were interrupted, admitting to dreaming about her, grinning at her, teasing her, taunting her, eating ice cream in the kitchen and telling her he LOVED it. 'What did he call me? A clever minx.' She laughed softly and tossed the crystal at the sink. There was a small popping noise, and a small shower of gold glitter. Left in the crystal's wake were piles of gleaming, clean dishes - even the sink itself was sparkling. In awe and delight, Sarah put away the magically cleaned dishes.

"C'mon, boy, let's go to bed. I'll get a shower in the morning. It's late and I'm exhausted." As she clomped up the staircase with her dog, she mentally replayed Jareth's good-bye. He had thanked her for dinner - he was the last to leave again- and told her he'd enjoyed himself. Then he'd proceeded to lightly kiss the tip of each finger she'd licked clean. The crystal had appeared in her hand and he'd told her to throw it into the sink. And he'd told her, as she'd stood there still somewhat dreamily stupefied from the treatment her fingers had received, he'd see her tomorrow. Sarah pulled off her clothes and slid into an oversized night-shirt. Merlin crawled back underneath her bed. He'd really developed a penchant for sleeping down there-it was peaceful.

Sarah snuggled into the covers and sighed. Then to her empty room, sleeping sheepdog, and own self Sarah confessed softly. "I love him."


	11. Chapter 11

To Lis : Thanks! Hehehehe : )

To The Silent Hunter : Yeah, I choose death by chocolate when it's my time to go, haha. So glad you're liking it! : )

To crazyone256 : Yay, I'm so happy that you're enjoying it thus far! : )

To HachimansKitsune : Awww, I'm so glad to give you a happy place! Yay for the fan girl squee! : )

To thexlastxfantasy : Well, thanks! : ) And I certainly don't want you to go into withdrawal so I'll try to update in a timely fashion, hehe

To Pixaria : I'm actually going to write some follow-up one shots for the musicals I wasn't able to fit in this ( I've already got one for Guys and Dolls up on DA). Thanks for the suggestions though….I hadn't thought of Mamma Mia and now I have a really good idea for it : )

To I-AM-JANUS : lol, love it!

To RaeJones386 : Thanks! And Brad will be making another appearance soon…muahahaha!

Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth! That honor goes to Henson and company.

Merlin woke Sarah up around eight in the morning with a whine that clearly indicated an urgent call of nature.

Too sleepy to put on her robe and slippers, Sarah sat on the grass barefoot and in her night-shirt while Merlin heeded the call. "I'm going to go back to bed and sleep for another couple of hours." She muttered groggily into her wrists, which she had propped up on her knees.

Merlin trotted up to her, looking rather more content than he had a few minutes previously. He butted up gently against Sarah's knee.

"Better buddy?" She yawned, patting him sleepily.

Like many other canines and small children, Merlin decided that having taken care of one end, it was now time to take care of the other. The shaggy dog plopped down in front of the back door and waited patiently for his mistress to open it. Sarah let out a massive yawn. Merlin cocked his head at her and whined plaintively.

"Mmmmm...I'm comin'." The brunette mumbled, using her palms to slowly push off the ground. She ambled to the door and pulled it open. Merlin padded into the kitchen and sat in front of his bowl expectantly. The sheepdog's thick tail effectively dusted the floor behind him while he showed his appreciation by wagging his tail as Sarah pulled the bag of dog food out of a cabinet.

Merlin's snout disappeared in the bowl of food.

"Well, I'm goin' back to bed." Sarah told the sound of crunching kibble. The champion of the Labyrinth trudged back up the stairs and climbed into bed.

About an hour later Sarah woke to a loud noise and groped groggily for the snooze button. Dazedly she wondered how much a new alarm clock was going to set her back as she unsuccessfully and rapidly pressed the snooze button for the third time. Sarah fully awoke after smacking the button two more times. Vindictive, albeit sleep-blurred, thoughts of attacking her alarm clock with a hammer disappeared as she realized that the loud, repetitive noise assailing her ears wasn't beeping, but ringing.

"Oh, crud!" Sarah yelped, flinging back the covers and rushing to the nearest phone. Slightly panting and nursing a stubbed toe, she sprinted into the master bedroom.

"Hello?" She inquired, mentally swearing some sort of vengeance if it was a telemarketer.

"Sweetie? Everything ok? You sound out of breath."

"Yeah, Dad, I'm fine." She replied, canceling her angry tirade against phone vendors. "Had to run for the phone and stubbed my toe. How're things in Florida?"

"Wonderful! The weather here has been great. We're going to the beach in a bit, once Karen finishes getting Toby ready. He's all excited for Disney World tomorrow."

"I'll bet!" Sarah chuckled, imagining just how much her baby brother was looking forward to it and not envying the supervising adults one bit.

"So how're things at home?"

"Fine." Sarah frowned at the hesitant note in her father's voice. "Something wrong, Dad?"

Robert Williams let out a gusty sigh on the other end of the line. He'd been hoping she'd tell him herself. "Sarah, when were you going to tell us you have a boyfriend?"

"What?" Thunderstruck, Sarah, who had been standing up until that point, sank onto the white chenille bedspread of her father and stepmother's bed.

"Karen got a call from Cindy Johnson yesterday. You know, her friend from across the street."

"Yeah." Sarah massaged her forehead, seeing where this was leading.

"Honey, you know we've been wanting for you to meet a nice boy. Can you imagine how we felt finding out you have a boyfriend? Were you even going to tell us, Sarah? Just what have you been doing with this boy that you felt the need to keep it a secret?"

"Dad, we only started dating a few days ago. We haven't even seen each other in person since school let out." Sarah lied, hit by a thought. 'Mrs. Johnson and that self-absorbed jerk she gave birth to can hardly claim I've had a strange guy over when no one has visibly entered or left the house besides me and Merlin. It's not like I can tell him the truth. What would I say? Don't worry, Dad, I'm sort of involved with the Goblin King and we've had goblins with us every time we've been together the past few days. Except for the dream, but I didn't know that was really him. And when we almost kissed, but good grief! It's not like we were doing illicit, unspeakable things up against my bedroom door.'

"If you haven't seen him since school let out, then how have you two been dating? And what's his name anyhow?"

"His name is Jareth and we've been...dating via video chat."

"Via video chat? You mean over the internet?"

"Yeah, you see, Jareth lives und-that is, he lives several hours south of here and he has a full-time job." Sarah said in the soothing manner of all daughters when talking to their fathers about the opposite gender. "I was waiting to tell you guys until I saw if our relationship was going to last. We haven't even been together a week yet."

"I guess I can see the logic in that." Robert admitted, somewhat pacified.

Sarah frowned, recalling an earlier comment of her father's. "Dad?"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Do you remember the conversation we had before I went on my first date?"

Robert smiled a bit in nostalgia. He could see her in his mind's eye, all primped up for her first dance and aglow with excitement. Like most fathers, he had felt the need to give his daughter a reminder version of 'the talk' before her first official outing with a member of the opposite sex. It hadn't been a comfortable discussion for father or daughter.

Sarah, mortified as any fifteen year old girl would be at talking about such subject matter with her father of all people, had assured him, with all possible haste, that she didn't think it was wise to 'do it' unless you were married or in a serious relationship.

"I'm waiting till my wedding night, Daddy." She had said, blushing and fervently praying with all her teenage heart that the discussion was closed.

Robert Williams felt a surge of pride, remembering his daughter walking up the sidewalk later that night - disheveled, dress ruined, near tears, but with her head held high. She'd told him that she'd stuck to her principles. He'd nearly gone after the boy, almost demanded the chaperones be brought up on charges of negligence and had set down the charge-your-cell-phone-every-night rule, but he'd been proud of her. He still was.

"I remember."

"My principles haven't changed, Dad."

"I'm sorry for doubting you, honey."

Sarah could hear loud, muffled noises of excitement in the background. "Sounds like Toby's ready for the beach."

"Is that Sarah? Tell her I say hi! I wish she could go to the beach too! She could tell me pirate stories!"

Robert Williams laughed. "Toby says hi."

"So I heard." Sarah chuckled. "Tell him I say hi too. I'd better let you go before he explodes from excitement."

"Alright, Sarah. Take care and call us if anything comes up. And I want to meet Jareth when we get back."

"Ermmm...I'll be sure to tell him. Bye, Dad! Love you!"

"Love you, sweetie."

There was a click of plastic on plastic as Sarah replaced the receiver. Her eyes fell on her parent's window and she imagined him standing there - cape billowing around him and curtains fluttering behind him.

She rubbed the back of her neck and envisioned brushing back the fly-away platinum wisps from his face and running her fingers through the uneven strands. Standing, she lightly ran a finger down the window sash. 'Only Jareth could pull off an entrance like that looking incredible and not like a creepy, evil Peter Pan.' Sarah giggled. "He certainly does have 'fleer'." Still smiling to herself, the brunette traipsed off to the shower.

While his intended was indulging in the joys of hygiene, Jareth was standing in the middle of the shop of the finest tailor in the Goblin Kingdom. The dwarf woman had been surprised to say the least when her husband, equally surprised, came upstairs to tell her the King required her services.

"So you'll be needin' a complete lady's wardrobe, yer majesty?"

"Yes, everything. I expect every article of clothing to be made with the utmost care, as befits a queen."

"Yes, yer majesty. I'll be needin' the lady's measurements before I can begin."

"Of course." Jareth gestured with his hand and conjured up a perfectly Sarah-sized dress-maker's dummy. He tapped his chin, contemplating, and then with another wave of his hand there appeared a sumptuous mountain of fine fabrics next to the dummy.

"Very good, yer majesty. I'll start right away."

Jareth was about to depart when a glimmer of black silk on the pile of material caught his eye. The taste of chocolate ice cream momentarily haunted his mouth. "Actually, I will be requiring you to craft everything except nightclothes."

"None yer majesty?" The woman asked, taken aback. Her slightly misshapen spectacles slid down her nose.

"None." Jareth confirmed, disappearing in an instant with a particularly wolfish grin on his face. Creating clothes via magic required precision and envisioning exact details. It was by no means beyond the Goblin King's considerable magical ability, but, like all other fae, he found the task mundane and irksome enough to gladly allocate the task to a tailor. When it came to his future bride's night-time apparel, however, Jareth was willing to make an exception. After all, some things were worth doing on one's own.

The T.V. flickered to life. Then the screen went black five minutes later. Three minutes later it was on again. The screen went black again in eight minutes.

"Ughhhh!" Sarah groaned, letting her head flop against the side of the couch. "This is ridiculous!" She was laying on the couch, trying to do something other than count down the time until she would see Jareth again and failing resoundingly. "It's just like Jareth to haunt me when I'm sleeping and awake alike for five years then show up with his amazingly soft-looking hair and his swimmer's body and those incredible pants and his eyes and...gah!" She burrowed her face further into the couch cushion. Her nose caught the faint scent of leather, spices and...'Is that peaches?'

Casting a glance around the room and seeing no one but Merlin chewing happily on a soupbone, Sarah decided to indulge a romantic, girlish urge. She shamelessly nuzzled into the couch and sniffed. Then she determinedly grabbed the remote.

Flipping through the channels, she came across a showing of The Princess Bride, one of her favorite movies. It had everything - action, humor, romance.

"And a dashing blonde hero!" Sarah exclaimed in her TV promo guy voice, sniffing the fabric. Then she sighed. "That man and I have to have a serious talk tonight." Promising to herself that she would find out Jareth's feelings tonight, Sarah snuggled into the couch further and settled down to watch the movie.

Like the champion of his Labyrinth, the Goblin King was making plans for the evening. He was happily occupied lounging on his bed creating nightwear and thinking of ways to get Sarah alone. The idea to forbid his goblins from going had come to mind, but no doubt Sarah would object. Even more so probably if he threw them in the Bog or an oubliette.

"I want your attention on me and not focused on my frequently idiotic subjects when I propose." Jareth addressed his favorite creation, a racy little concoction of black silk and lace that was resting next to him on the bed. "You would undoubtedly rage at me in righteous indignation if I deprived the goblins of their nightly musical and as adorable as you are when you are enraged, my love, that is not the emotion I'm striving for."

With a graceful flick of a gloved finger, the nightie before him was complete. It was an elegant affair in white silk that would hang to mid-calf and the straps and edging of the low-cut neckline resembled feathers. The nightdress hovering in the air before him was sent to join its fellows in the magically constructed walk-in closet next to his own with a sweep of his hand.

"Unless I find a way to isolate you in a broom closet with me in the course of the evening - and I still haven't given up hope - then I'll have to persuade you that tomorrow night should just be you and me, goblin free. I am going to very much enjoy persuading you darling, because I intend to kiss you into submission. Actually I'm going to do that even if you don't require persuasion. Admittedly not the degree of kissing that I would like, but I will take-"

Jareth's conversation with the nightgown next to him was interrupted by words clearly reverberating in his ears.

"Ugh! You're such an idiot, Billy! I wish the goblins would come and take you away RIGHT NOW!"

Cursing irately, Jareth donned his formal armor in an instant and disappeared from his bed chamber.

Sarah exhaled deeply as the cast of characters rolled on-screen. Billy Crystal's grinning face as Miracle Max was momentarily frozen then disappeared as she turned off the T.V.

"12:00." Sarah observed, glancing at the digital clock. "Eight or so hours until they'll show up." She sniffed the material of the couch where the back of Jareth's neck had rested wistfully. "Gah! Stop it, Sarah! Smelling the couch isn't going to get him here any sooner." Chiding herself, Sarah got off the couch to put herself out of temptation's way. "If the cologne companies could bottle that smell, they'd make millions."

Merlin, sensing that it was lunchtime, happily followed Sarah into the kitchen. He sat down patiently by the table as the brunette leaned into the refrigerator.

"One thing's for certain, I am NOT going to sit on the couch and pine for Jareth." Two slices of bread, and various sandwich fixings were dropped on the plate Sarah had placed on the table.

Merlin licked his chops, wagging his tail joyfully when Sarah distractedly tossed him a piece of ham.

"I just need to keep busy until tonight. After lunch, I'll do some laundry and...clean the house! Yeah, that's what I'll do. Laundry and then dust and vacuum the house." She took an enthusiastic bite of her sandwich, happy to have a pining-prevention plan.

Halfway through her ham sandwich, Sarah felt an odd tingly feeling. She paused mid-bite as the tingly feeling solidified into something solid dropping into her lap. After looking at the object resting on her lap that hadn't been there seconds before, it became necessary for her to consciously remind herself to swallow.

The kitchen, as she scanned it, was sadly blonde King free. 'Maybe he's going to make some sort of dramatic entrance?'

"Jareth?"

A few minutes ticked by and her call remained unanswered. The power was still on, it was still sunny outside and there were no owls lurking about as far as she could tell. Experimentally she lightly tapped the crystal laying on the denim of her jeans and it popped to reveal an envelope of high quality paper. Her name was written on the back in slanted, graceful cursive that still retained something of a masculine scrawl to the way it slanted.

'How typical. He even has attractive handwriting.' She thought in vague amusement as she traced the 'S' of her name. An old fashioned wax seal bearing the symbol Jareth wore around his neck was revealed when she flipped it over.

Gently Sarah prized the wax from the paper, trying not to break the seal. Finally succeeding, she removed a letter composed of the same high-quality parchment as the envelope.

'Dearest Sarah,Words can not describe my deep regret that my goblins and I will be unable to enjoy the pleasure of your company this evening. You will be unable to contact any of your friends in my kingdom as well, unfortunately. We are all going to be rather occupied for the next thirteen hours. Despite my generous urgings to accept his dreams, young Jack O'Rourke decided that he really did not want to be rid of his brother after all. Sound familiar, love? Kind creature that I am, I told him in no uncertain terms that he had absolutely not the faintest chance of solving my Labyrinth and that he would be ahead to take the crystal. Then Mr. O'Rourke just had to inquire if anyone had ever won. Really then, precious, it is entirely your fault that I will not be able to have the delight of spending my evening with you tonight. As restitution therefore, I suggest that tomorrow night you favor me with your company without the distraction of goblins or exploded foodstuffs. It will be my honor to provide dinner at your abode after the delicious meal you prepared last night. I eagerly await your reply in respect to this plan, Sarah - simply say your right words over your letter to send me your response, but wish it away to me personally rather than simply the goblins. Forever yours,Jareth'

'He wants to spend time alone with me.' Unquestionably happy and no longer hungry, Sarah put her sandwich in the refrigerator for later. With Jareth's letter in her hand she climbed up to her room to write a reply.

Treating the elegant bit of parchment like a fragile butterfly she deposited the letter on her vanity and sat down. A sheet of notebook paper was pulled out of a drawer. Sarah frowned at the blank paper and replaced it. 'Where's that stationary Karen's parents gave me when I graduated from high school?' She'd only used the lavender paper with silver arabesques for writing thank-you notes so there should be several sheets left.

"Ah-hah!" Sarah crowed, finding the stationary at the bottom of the drawer. She grabbed a pen and, after checking to see if it had ink by blotting it on her hand, began to write.

'Dear Jareth, I'm sorry for indirectly being the cause of preventing you from coming tonight, but I do sympathize with Mr. O'Rourke. I sympathize, but don't envy him. One trek through your 'piece of cake' was enough to last a lifetime.'

"That ought to make him laugh." She smiled.

'Hopefully, the experience will be as character building for him as it was for me. Your terms of restitution sound fair to me.'

She chewed her lip in thought, contemplating how to phrase what she wanted to say.

'It'll give us an opportunity to talk without being interrupted. I'm looking forward to seeing you.'

She chewed her lower lip a bit more then decided to go for it. "After all, it's the truth and," she finished softly, "he used it too." Sarah reiterated Jareth's farewell, folded up her letter, wrote his name on the back of the envelope and stuck the note inside.

Quickly she licked and sealed the envelope, grimacing at the nasty paste flavor.

The letter sat ready to go on the vanity, looking fairly respectable next to Jareth's.

"All that's missing is a seal." Sarah remarked, satisfied. Grinning, she reached to the far corner of her vanity on a moment of inspiration. Feeling for all the world like she was fifteen again, sitting at her vanity applying makeup, she carefully applied a light coat of lipstick on a moment of whimsy and kissed the envelope.

"There! Sealed with a kiss! I wish the Goblin King would take you away right now!"

Immediately after the letter instantly disappeared, Sarah felt overwhelmed by her feelings of the morning once again.

"Welllll...I don't have that much laundry to do and the house really isn't that dirty. Oh, phooey! I'm just going to go sit on the couch and read or watch a movie or something. If I happen to smell the couch while I'm at it, then so be it."


	12. Chapter 12

To notwritten : Thanks much! : )

To The Silent Hunter : Hehe, distracted indeed - poor Jareth, it's like taunting a starving wolf with bacon : ) I know I would pay good money for that cologne…*dreamy sigh* Thanks so much!

To I-AM-JANUS : lol, so true! Sarah may tell the hormones they don't have any power over her…but they ain't goin' away.

To find your North Star : Why thank you! : )

To Brittcheltana : Awww, thanks for all the kind words! These kinds of reviews make me happy which make me want to make you happy hence the regular updating. Okay that was a little confusing, but you get the point, lol. And, never fear, Brad still has a part to play in all the fun…muahahaha!

To HachimansKitsune : Yay! To me, fangirl squees are like fan fiction awards…I love to squee and I love to cause squees!

To FlaireSharpe : Actually, I've already got it all written so the wait is just for me to edit as I transfer it from my DA account. But I'm editing as quickly as possible! Promise! : )

To crazyone256 : lol, thanks!

To Pixaria : Oh me too, and then I'd become some crazy cologne-sniffing addict.

Disclaimer: Henson and company own Labyrinth. I'm not Henson or company.

Her arm was cold. Not even bothering to open her eyes, Sarah reached to pull the blanket up so her appendage could be warm and she could go back to sleep. Her hands came up with nothing.

'I must've kicked the blankets off in the night.' She groaned, cracking an eyelid open to assess the damage. What met her bleary gaze was an expanse of blue. The other eye opened to clarify what she was seeing, which was the back of the couch. Sarah let out another groan.

"I never went to bed." Sitting up, the stiffness that comes from falling asleep and spending the night on a couch asserted itself on her lower back. "Stupid Jareth-smelling couch!" The couch was subjected to a glare as Sarah stood up and stretched her stiff muscles. "Honestly. You'd think spending a night with Jareth's scent right next to my nose I would've at least had a shared dream with him." She grumbled, rubbing her back and slowly walking off to take a nice hot shower.

After lathering her back with soothing lavender-smelling body wash, Sarah felt the stiffness of her muscles evaporate as she stood under the hot spray of the shower. It was at that point that she fully awoke and it hit her. Her and Jareth. Tonight. Alone. Flutterings of nervousness and excitement welled up within her.

"I have a date with the Goblin King." She mused, reaching for the bottle of shampoo. 'What on earth am I going to wear?' Her thick locks were given a vigorous lather as she mentally tried on outfits, feeling all the anxiety of two nights ago tenfold. Sarah was rinsing the shampoo out of her hair when she thought of the dress she had worn to her cousin Janet's wedding last summer. 'May as well go all out if I'm going to tell him how I feel.' She thought, adding one of the few pairs of heels she owned to the ensemble in her mind.

Jareth had been chomping at the bit to see Sarah before her response came, but after it arrived bearing a kiss as its seal he'd been restless to the point of ridiculousness. He'd sung, kicked goblins, played with the wished away and relentlessly made life exceedingly difficult for the runner in his Labyrinth for thirteen hours. The desire to spend a prolonged amount of time in any activity had been absent and the Goblin King had cycled through the options for the employment of his time continuously. Jack O'Rourke's achievement of having hands down the most difficult time of any runner to ever set foot in the Labyrinth attested to its ruler's annoyance at being prevented from spending his time in the manner, or rather with the person, that he wanted to.

When time had mercifully run out, Jareth had sent the runner home and caught a few hours sleep before taking the toddler to his new family, heedless of the fact that it was still rather early in the morning. Then he had retired to his chambers, giving the goblins explicit instructions not to disturb him and for the goblin with the lopsided horn to wake him at the appropriate time. As Jareth drifted off into some much-needed sleep, a slender finger traced the outline of a lower lip imprinted onto an opened envelope, letter placed carefully back inside, which was resting on a rather provocative piece of nightwear. "Tonight."

Two shaved legs, one dusted and vacuumed house, and two loads of laundry later, Sarah fastened the straps on a rarely worn set of heels. Rising from the edge of her bed, she took a few tentative steps around the room. Now satisfied that she wasn't going to face plant onto the floor or onto Jareth, Sarah sat back down. The thought of falling onto Jareth and knocking him to the ground lingered in her brain, causing her heart to speed up.

"Calm down. Deep breaths. I can do this." The brunette closed her eyes, inhaling and exhaling deliberately. 'Stupid hormones.' No other man could excite her hormones to the point of outright revolt. 'Probably because he's the one I love. And he's utterly gorgeous. And totally knock-to-the-ground-able. Gah!' She glanced at her clock, refusing to follow that line of thought down to what she would do if Jareth didn't feel the same. Or how enjoyable it might be to knock him to the ground; her hormones were already out of control as it was. "He should be here soon."

A scant thirty seconds after the words had left Sarah's mouth, the Goblin King materialized before her.

There was a moment of silence while they took in each other's appearance. Both of them were too occupied observing to realize that the other was observing them as well.

Jareth was wearing the outfit he had worn in her ballroom dream. 'Reality is soooooooooo much better!' Sarah decided. The blue coat accentuated his broad shoulders and the color of his blue eye, and he stood before her as a regal portrait of lithe grace. 'Oh but he looks GOOD in those pants! Honestly, he would look good in plastic garbage bags.'

Appreciatively Jareth noted the way her black heeled shoes helped showcase her shapely legs. Right above her knees the view of her legs was obscured by the hem of her dress. The white fabric was form fitting, with a band of silken blue ribbon around the waist. Although the neckline was a low crescent on her chest, it revealed nothing and made him ache to pull down the short sleeves down her arms and explore, kiss, and tease every inch of her hidden skin as it was revealed to his eyes. Movement from Sarah's mouth drew his attention, like an owl suddenly alert to his prey scurrying on the forest floor. Jareth's own tongue ran along his bottom lip as he watched Sarah lick her lips.

Their eyes met. The Goblin King grinned at her with that grin she liked so much. Fighting off the whispered urgings of her hormones that now would be a good time to push him to the ground, Sarah smiled back at him, a light blush coloring her cheeks.

"You look magnificent, Sarah." 'Beyond magnificent, actually.'

"Thanks." The sincerity in his voice caused her blush to deepen a little and her heart to flutter like a hummingbird's wings. "You look pretty magnificent yourself."

Jareth inclined his head, pleased. "Thank you."

"Shall we?" Sarah inquired, nodding her head at the doorway.

"Of course." Jareth, to her surprise, bowed lightly before her. "My Lady." He offered her his arm.

Sarah let out a thrilled laugh and curtsied. "My King." She entwined her arm through his, giving him a radiant smile that threatened to take his breath away.

It felt to Sarah as if they floated down the hall and stairs rather than walked. 'I doubt I could be this graceful in heels normally without someone to lean on. I haven't even stumbled.' Sarah marveled as they stopped in front of the couch and Jareth motioned for her to sit down. Regretfully she disengaged her arm from his and sat. 'Wow, I'm pathetic.' She though, lamenting the loss of physical contact.

After his Lady was seated, the Goblin King produced a crystal out of thin air. Seeing he had Sarah's attention, Jareth teasingly began to juggle it back and forth across the backs of his hands and wrists.

Sarah stared at the glimmering sphere in rapt fascination as it moved across Jareth's gloves and nimble fingers, defying gravity with ease. A melodic laugh drew her attention back to his face. "Show off." She muttered, crossing her arms but unable to keep a smile from her face.

With a smug smirk, Jareth nonchalantly tossed the globe to shatter impressively on the table. The table now held a delicious steak dinner for two on elegant china and a light orange colored liquid in two gleaming cut-crystal goblets. "Perhaps I am." Jareth remarked, taking a seat next to her. The delight on her face at the meal he had produced gratified him to no end and warmed his heart. "But you drive me to it by never failing to be impressed." He added slyly, refraining from the overwhelming desire to kiss her.

Sarah chuckled. "I suppose that's true." She admitted, a little shamefacedly. "This all looks wonderful though, so in this case I think I'm justified in being impressed." A nervous coil unfurled in her stomach, reminding her of the uncertainty of the feelings of the man beside her. Her heart felt hollow at the thought of losing him, now that she had him back in her life. 'I won't be able to fully enjoy this until I know. But if he doesn't feel the same, the evening will be ruined. If he doesn't feel the same, my life is ruined. I have to know.'

Jareth tilted his head, studying his companion in her thoughtful silence. "Is something wrong, Sarah? I somehow doubt the dinner has inspired such a look of contemplation."

"Actually, there's a question I need to ask you."

"Yes, precious?"

The pet name sent a pleasant shiver down her spine, adding to the nerves writhing in her stomach. 'I beat his Labyrinth. I Can Do This.' She swallowed. "The final offer that you made when I reached the castle...was it serious or was it a trick to keep me from Toby?"

"An offer of marriage is always a serious thing, Sarah." He replied gently, placing a hand on her shoulder to get her to look into his eyes.

Sarah's breath caught in her throat. "You mean that..?" She trailed off.

"My proposal was one that you were too young at the time to grasp. I was vain and idiotic enough to think that you would be willing to give up your brother for me. I was selfish enough to want to gratify my own ego in having you choose me above all else then be able to keep both you and Toby."

There were tears pooling in her eyes and her breathing was unsteady.

"It was my intent to turn you both into fae and gain both a queen and an heir. Instead, all I did was cause you to effectively ban me from your life." A tear slid from Sarah's left eye and he wiped it away gently with his thumb. His heart on his sleeve, he brought up his other hand to frame her face. "I have been utterly miserable and desolate without you." He confessed. "Sarah, I have loved you from the moment I saw you in that park reciting your lines. I will love you forever." Jareth drew a shaky breath, about to ask the champion of his Labyrinth to marry him.

Before he could get the words out, Sarah was in his lap with her lips covering his own. She buried her hands in his hair. 'It's even softer than it looks!' Following instinct and trying to mimic what she'd seen in the movies, Sarah moved her lips against his. 'I hope he likes it...I don't have a whole lot of experience.'

Sarah became incapable of worrying and any type of thought whatsoever when Jareth quickly overcame his surprise and began to enthusiastically kiss her back.

He tightened his grip on her face and, without fully knowing he did it, used magic to remove his gloves.

At the feel of his smooth hands on her skin Sarah gasped a bit into their kiss in surprise and pleasure.

Jareth echoed her delight and took advantage of the situation to flick his tongue into her mouth. Sarah reciprocated the gesture, causing Jareth to emit a low growl of pleasure that vibrated into her mouth. He sank his hands into her silken tresses as she shifted forward, both with the single, unified thought of being closer together.

A dinging noise penetrated Sarah's brain as she ran her tongue along one of Jareth's sharp-looking canines.

"That's the front door." She panted, pulling back and interrupting the Goblin King's thorough exploration of her mouth.

"Don't answer it." Jareth commanded, out of breath. He ran his fingers lovingly through her hair, enjoying the silken feel of it against his bare skin.

"It could be important. I'll be right back." She cursed her sense of responsibility and reluctantly removed Jareth's hands from her hair. His mismatched eyes were ablaze with love and desire, his wild hair was even more wild from her hands running through the golden strands and the hands she held in her own were bare and oh-so-smooth. Sarah couldn't resist leaning forward and lightly pressing her lips to his. "I love you." She told him belatedly, rising from his lap before her willpower gave out.


	13. Chapter 13

To I-AM-JANUS : Hehehehe, indeed : )

To The Silent Hunter : I know, right, the nerve of some people ringing doorbells when there are Goblin Kings about…hehe. : )

To HachimansKitsune : Me too, I like writing them happy and together : )

To FlaireSharpe : Awww thanks! And I will : )

To RaeJones386 : Thanks! Ta-da, updated! : )

To find your North Star : Thanks so much! : )

To crazyone256 : Will do! : )

To thexlastxfantasy : Glad I could make you smile! And I think I speak for all fan girls when I say that we'd all love to get caught by Jareth, hehe : )

Thanks so much to all of you who have added this story to your favorites/alerts! I really appreciate it : )

Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth! Henson and company own Labyrinth.

As Sarah walked to the door, which was now being banged on in combination with the doorbell being repeatedly pressed, three thoughts swirled in her head. Thought Number One: 'I bet it's Mrs. Perkins from next door with a casserole.' Thought Number Two: 'Why is Mrs. Perkins banging on the door? Does she think I've been assaulted or something? She must've been watching those crime dramas again.' Thought Number Three: 'Well, actually I sort of assaulted Jareth. But he liked it! He was assaulting me back. He loves me! ... I need to get rid of Mrs. Perkins ASAP.'

Peeking through the peephole, Sarah was surprised to not see the matronly grey-haired woman who frequently became paranoid after watching programs that involved the use of the phrase "most horrific unsolved crime" but Brad Johnson. She opened the door, simultaneously curious to see what he had to say and eager to get rid of him so she could get back to the magical king sitting on the couch.

"Well, if it ishn't Sharah Williamsh!" The jock lurched forward, violating the concept of personal space and putting a hand on either side of the doorframe to steady himself.

Sarah took an instinctive step back, flinching at the overwhelming sickly sweet stench of alcohol on his breath. 'Oh dear. Looks like someone's had one too many. I'll have to walk him back home.' A surprised gasp left Sarah's mouth as the drunken football player pulled her roughly to him and pinched her rear with a roving hand. "Brad! I have a boyfriend! Let me go!" Sarah squeaked indignantly.

Brad chuckled and tightened his grip on her as she pushed her palms against his chest. "Your internet boyfriend? Pleash, Sharah. We both know thish ish you playing hard to get...and now you got me babe!" He slurred, leering down at her.

"I assure you I'm not." Sarah snapped, losing her temper and tolerance for the fact that Brad Johnson was totally inebriated as he pinched her derriere yet again. With calculated precision, she simultaneously stomped on his foot with her heeled one and slapped him with all the strength she could muster. The college boy staggered back with a yelp. In satisfaction, the champion of the Labyrinth folded her arms across her chest.

"Now, it's time for you to go home to bed."

"Yoursh ish closher, babe." Brad replied, defying the humility Sarah thought she had knocked into him. Before the brunette could deliver a scathing reply, the muscular man surged forward and pinned her against the wall of the hallway. "I love it when girlsh play rough."

'Time to call for help.' Sarah decided, since her arms were now pinned between them and knowing that Jareth probably couldn't hear what was going on from the living room. 'Stupid well-insulated walls.' She thought, drawing a deep breath to scream for assistance.

Brad beat her to it. "Yearghhh!" He screeched, tottering backwards on unsteady feet. He collapsed on the floor as the goblins near his feet pulled him down harshly.

"Yuck!" Grunch commented, wiping his mouth with an expression of utter distaste as he pulled a fragment of denim from his fang.

Booted feet pounded on the hardwood floors. "What's going on here?" Jareth demanded, rushing to Sarah and pulling her to him protectively. "Are you alright, my love?" His mismatched eyes scanned her anxiously for injuries.

"I'm fine." Sarah assured him, unable to resist the opportunity to snuggle into him and wrap an arm around his waist. "He's drunk," the hand that wasn't occupied caressing Jareth's side pointed out the young man on the floor, "and wouldn't take no for an answer."

"He 'un grab Lady!" Grunch piped up.

"And he pinched her!" Murpl added. "Like this." He demonstrated on Smidge.

The pink-haired goblin let out a squeal, temporarily losing her grip on Brad's self-prized curly hair, which she had been vindictively knotting.

"Then he pushed her into the wall." The goblin with the lopsided horn finished. He growled savagely and pulled the drunken man back down forcefully as he tried to stand.

Jareth's eyes flashed dangerously. Sarah recognized that look. The last time she had seen it, it had been the prelude to her running away from several tons of menacing steel. "Slime ball though he is, Brad is in no condition to outrun the cleaners."

"I was not particularly thinking of his escaping them." Jareth stated. His eyes were shooting daggers at the gibbering drunken man being held down by four of his goblins.

"As incredibly attractive as you are when you're being protective," Sarah whispered in his ear and then continued in a normal level of voice, "do you think you could poof Brad to bed, maybe give him a few dreams to dissuade him from being...ummm..less than a gentleman around women? And to avoid getting smashed in the future?"

Jareth glared down at the man who had dared to accost his Sarah. "That is a rather tame alternative to what I was planning." The feel of Sarah's hand caressing his side and the words she had whispered in his ear belatedly penetrated his ire. He abruptly decided that his time could be better spent not implementing various schemes to make the drunken youth miserable. "Very well." He acquiesced and in a fluid motion produced and tossed a crystal sphere onto the floor.

Brad Johnson disappeared instantaneously, leaving four goblins clutching thin air. There was a collective "oomph" as the goblins crashed into each other in a pile on the spot of floor previously occupied by a human body.

"You guys okay?" Sarah asked in concern.

"Good 'un, Lady." Grunch replied picking himself up.

"I'm okay!" Murpl replied cheerily from atop Smidge, his elbow poking her in the mouth.

"Geddoff me!" Smidge fumed around Murpl's elbow, angrily sinking her teeth into his flesh.

"We're fine, Lady." The goblin with the lopsided horn responded as Murpl yelped and hastily got off of his pink comrade.

"Good," Jareth remarked, "because I prefer you to not be injured when I punish you for your disobedience." The goblins' chipper mood evaporated.

"Disobedience?" Sarah inquired.

"I specifically told the goblins that I did not want to catch sight of them in your abode tonight."

"Sorry 'un!"

"We were staying out of sight until the Lady got pushed." The goblin with the lopsided horn put in contritely.

The Goblin King let out a heavy sigh and the champion of his Labyrinth giggled next to him. "Don't punish them, Jareth." She giggled some more. "After all, they were doing exactly what you told them to do. They were staying out of your sight."

Jareth gave his intended a wry look. "I am glad you find this so amusing, precious."

"Well, it is!" Sarah grinned up at him. "They did as you told them. What's said is said, you know." The brunette let out a snort of laughter at her own joke and the edges of Jareth's lips began to turn upwards as he fought back a grin.

"Very well. I suppose I neglected to clarify my wishes. It would be remiss of me as a ruler to punish you for...obeying my orders."

"And they did sort of save me." Sarah put in.

"True." Jareth remarked, looking down at the woman he wanted to spend forever with. Her moss green eyes sparkled with amusement, her silken brown hair was in mild disarray from the attentions of his fingers, she was snuggled up next to him lovingly, and her smile was positively radiant. "No goblin is to enter this household until I say it is permissible." He commanded, not taking his brilliant eyes off of Sarah as he turned her to face him and wrapped his other arm around her.

The goblins looked on with wide eyes as the King lowered his lips to the Lady's. Their view was suddenly interrupted as they found themselves careening into each other to land in a heap yet again.

"What happened?" Murpl asked as he quickly got off of Smidge, who was swatting at him to move.

"The King sent us back." The goblin with the lopsided horn answered, helping Grunch off of the stone floor of the Castle Beyond the Goblin City.

"Awww! He was gonna kiss her!" Smidge whined, irritated to miss the spectacle after seeing the earlier display.

"Almost 'un better than musical!" Grunch commented dreamily.

"It was fun to watch." Murpl agreed. "But not as fun as exploding things."

"Come on! Let's go tell everyone we're going to have a Queen!" The goblin with the lopsided horn said cheerfully, skipping off towards the throne room to spread the news.

"Ok 'un!" Grunch agreed happily, following after him with Murpl.

"Nooooo!" Smidge yelled, trailing behind them. "I want to tell!"

A sliver of light escaped the curtains to shine insistently on Brad Johnson's closed eyelids. "Owww..." Brad groaned, turning on his side in agony after briefly opening his eyes. His head felt like the monsters from his nightmares last night were jumping around in it. The nightmares had been incredibly vivid, with spear wielding creatures and chickens with razor sharp talons pouncing on him. A gigantic owl had dive bombed him repeatedly. Then there had been unending twisting cobblestone paths and a tall figure that looked eerily like one of his mom's favorite singers from the eighties threatening to drop him as he magically held him over what looked like a lake of melted Jabba the Hut and smelled beyond description if he touched Sarah Williams again or any other girl against her will. He shivered at the memory. "I'll never drink again." He moaned, unaware that his precious mane of curly hair was hopelessly tangled and knotted nor how painful it was going to be to try to comb out the mess with a blistering hangover.


	14. Epilogue

To The Silent Hunter : I know, if I had goblins at my disposal then there would be swift prank-mediated justice, haha. : )

To HachimansKitsune : Hehe, here you go! Some more Jareth smoochin' : )

To Lis : I do so love to mete out justice! Even if it is only fictional, lol.

To find your North Star : Why thanks : ) And read and see!

To lovelycelticopera : Thanks much! : )

To Brittcheltana : Why thank you! And yes, I like protective! Jareth also… *dreamy sigh* And it makes me so happy that you like Smidge and Murpl! It's always nice to hear one's brain-children are liked, lol.

To Mrs Watson-Holmes : Eeek! I'm so sorry that you haven't been able to comment….computers-can't live with 'em or without 'em. Thanks so much for all the praise! : )

To tonemara : Why thank you! That's so nice of you to say : )

To crazyone256 : *places two large bowls of popcorn twenty feet apart* There, I fixed the popcorn problem! Hehe

To I-AM-JANUS : Exactly, lol!

To green-eyed-owl : Thanks! The first time I saw Labyrinth, the bog, being all bubbly and disgusting, reminded me of what happens when you put salt on a slug…and Jabba the hut is really just a big slug, so for me it immediately clicked, lol.

To notwritten : Thanks much! : )

To CeliaEquus : It's always nice when people get their comeuppance isn't it? : )

To KraZyiiePyrozHavemoreFun : Thank you! : )

Thank you guys so much for all the wonderful reviews and the alerts/favorites! I appreciate how kind you all have been. : ) I do have one follow-up written for this story over on DA and will be transferring it over soon, plus I've got more planned for all the musicals I didn't use and wanted to. Thanks again guys! Hugs to you all!

Disclaimer: Every chapter I have said it and every chapter it remains so….I do not own Labyrinth. Labyrinth is the property of Henson and company. The only thing to come from my mind are various goblin personalities and names.

"I've heard of affairs that are strictly platonic! But diamonds are a girl's best friend!" Marilyn Monroe's voice emanated from the TV.

Jareth happily ran a finger along Sarah's left hand, playfully outlining the edges of the diamond solitaire flanked by tiny emeralds that rested on her finger and proclaimed her as his future queen for all the world to see. "So tell me, precious," he purred softly in her ear, "are diamonds a girl's best friend?"

A pleasurable shiver ran up Sarah's spine as the Goblin King toyed with the engagement ring on her finger. He'd developed the habit of tracing and caressing it on her finger almost immediately after he had placed it there. It also generally served as a reliable signal that he was going to start kissing his betrothed. True to form, Jareth bent his head slightly and began to discreetly attack her neck with soft, searing kisses.

"Mmmmmmm…" Sarah responded, tilting her head a bit to give him more room to work with. A grin lifted her lips as the goblins let out a collective "oooh!" as Marilyn Monroe danced about onscreen with shiny baubles in the most famous number from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Neither she nor Jareth had really seen much of the movie, intent on snuggling together in the darkened room on the couch while the goblins indulged their love of musical theater. "I would say it's more like goblins are a girl's best friend."

"Goblins?" Jareth inquired, halting his siege of her neck.

The champion of the Labyrinth didn't have to see the Lord of the Labyrinth's face to know his eyebrow was characteristically raised in one of his signature expressions. "Goblins." Sarah confirmed, resting her head in the crook of his neck. "They brought us together."

"I would like to think that I would have been perfectly capable of finding a way back into your life without the aid of my goblins and their unending fascination with "exploding food"." Jareth remarked, nuzzling his head into her soft hair. Murpl was delightedly chomping away at a rather large bowl of popcorn while Smidge shushed him, irritated by his noisy tribute to food that could explode.

"Pretty 'un!" Grunch sighed dreamily as Marilyn concluded her number.

"Yeah," Murpl mused around a mouthful of popcorn, "Dorothy's very pretty too though."

"They're beautiful!" The goblin with the lopsided horn agreed enthusiastically.

"After all there was that lovely dream you had." Jareth smirked, ignoring the escalating argument around them amid the sounds of the television as Murpl simultaneously provoked Grunch into an argument and irritated Smidge.

"If you say so, Jareth, but honestly just when were you going to propose? If the goblins hadn't come to my defense and gotten your attention by making Brad scream then we would never have ended up in the hall." Sarah pointed out, taking his hand in hers and fiddling with the top of his glove.

"I fully intended to propose after dinner Sarah, but like always you delightfully forced a confrontation." Jareth closed his eyes as her fingers briefly brushed along the inside of his wrist beneath his black leather glove. 'Mine.' Jareth thought happily, letting out a soft sigh.

Sarah's face lit up with a smirk at Jareth's reaction as she continued to caress his wrist. "I don't see you complaining much about it."

A wolfish smirk of his own spread across the Goblin King's face and with a smooth gesture his free hand effortlessly produced and tossed a crystal sphere onto the floor. It exploded with a soft popping noise and the noises of the goblins bickering, eating and overall enjoying their musical ceased abruptly as they disappeared from view. The glow of the TV was replaced by an exquisite candelabra on the table before them. "Oh, but I do have several complaints my love." Jareth remarked, turning so that his back was against the armrest of the couch and neatly pulling the woman who once was the girl who ate the peach and forgot everything into his lap.

"Jareth!" Sarah exclaimed with a laugh, steadying herself from the sudden change in seating arrangement by placing her hands on his chest.

"My chief complaint is you have yet to name the date on which you become my queen."

Sarah bit her lip briefly in contemplation. "Any particular time you want to get married?"

"Certainly." Jareth grinned.

"Well?"

"Tomorrow. Or, better yet, tonight."

"Jareth!"

"Come now, Sarah precious, it's an absolutely wonderful plan."

"I'd like for my Dad to give me away and it just so happens that he's still in Florida with Karen and Toby."

"That could be easily remedied." Jareth replied, punctuating his reply with kisses to her neck. He moved to take her lips with his own, but Sarah pulled back.

"You are not magically poofing my family back from Florida, Jareth. They just found out we're dating the other day. I want to give them some time to get used to the idea of us, meet you and then tell them we're getting married."

The Goblin King heaved a theatrical sigh. "You try my patience Sarah."

"I know, I know. And after you've done everything I've wished for." Sarah teased, as she took his hands in her own and began to pull the leather from his skin. A satisfied smile pulled up the corners of her lips at the delighted sigh her fiancée exhaled as she removed his gloves.

"I suppose I can be patient for your sake." Jareth conceded, burying his hands in her soft brown locks as she weaved her hands into his wild golden mane.

"You wouldn't be patient enough to wait until I finish college would you?" Sarah inquired.

Jareth brought his lips firmly to hers and kissed her soundly. He parted his lips and traced the outline of her lower lip with the tip of his tongue, begging admission to her mouth which she quickly granted. Their tongues met in a silent, heated clash which Sarah soon lost and Jareth wasted no time in skillfully conquering her mouth. Their mouths remained locked until the need for air became too much and they pulled apart, resting their foreheads against each other.

"Are you patient enough to wait, Sarah mine?" Jareth asked, panting slightly.'Say no, Sarah! Just say no!' Sarah's hormones sang in her mind. "No, I'm not." Sarah admitted, out of breath.

Pleased, Jareth nuzzled his nose against hers. "I can set up a link to an apartment near your school from the castle."

"That'd be great." Sarah replied, breathing in the scent she loved so much - the combination of leather, spices and magic that was all Jareth. 'We'll be able to get married this summer and I'll be able to finish my degree. That ought to make Dad happy. Wait a second…' As the thought hit her, Sarah sat up straight and inadvertently pushed Jareth backwards. Not expecting the sudden change in movement, Jareth tumbled backwards so that his head was resting on the armrest of the couch and Sarah was atop him. "Jareth, your parents!"

"What about them precious?" Jareth replied, not at all adverse to the position he found himself in.

"Won't they want to meet me?" The thought of the sexy, mysterious Goblin King having parents had never really occurred to her before. 'What'll they be like? Are they some type of royalty too?'

"It might be a good idea to introduce you to them before the wedding." Jareth conceded, playing with a lock of her hair that had fallen into his face.

"Errr…do they hold some type of office too?"

"My mother and father are Titania and Oberon, the High King and Queen of the Fae." Sarah's face looked numb with shock, and her lower lip hung open in surprise. Jareth's melodic chuckle rumbled out, and Sarah could feel the vibrations through her position on his chest. "Sarah love, your face!"

Sarah lightly slapped his chest in retribution. "Well, hey they're famous! I'm allowed to be a little dumbfounded that they're going to be my in-laws." Jareth tilted his head up at her and grinned at her with that grin she loved so well. She was distracted by the butterflies happily fluttering in her stomach by another thought. "Will they be upset at you marrying a human?"

"I think they could care less so long as they get some grandchildren and I'm happy." Jareth responded, his grin widening at the slight blush that stole across her cheeks at the mention of children. "I can not wait to have children with you Sarah." Jareth whispered seductively, pushing the errant strand of hair he'd been toying with behind her ear and caressing her cheek.

"Me too." Sarah said softly, her blush deepening. "Will our children be half fae and half human then?" She began to gently trace the edges of his upswept eyebrows with her right hand.

'We can't get married soon enough for my taste.' Jareth thought, half-closing his eyes in contentment at her gentle touch on his face. "No, our children will be all fae."

"All fae?"

"Yes." Jareth opened his eyes all the way, he hadn't had a chance to really broach the subject with her the night before. His lips and mouth had been much more agreeably occupied than with explanations. "You see, it's also why my parents wouldn't object to you being human. Eventually humans turn into fae if they spend a prolonged amount of time in the Underground, say a few years."

"So I'll be fae in a few years?"

"No, you will be fae in a few months."

"Months? But you said-"

"The consummation of our marriage will speed up your transformation."

"Oh." Sarah turned full scarlet at this and a rather silly grin spread across her face.

"Does becoming fae frighten you?" Jareth asked, looking affectionately at the interesting expression on her face.

"Will I be able to be with you forever?"

"Yes."

"Then it doesn't bother me." Sarah smiled radiantly down at him, as only a woman in love can smile.

Jareth looked like a cat who had eaten a whole pet shop full of canaries, his face alight with happiness as he cupped her face with his hands.

Acquiescing to the gentle pull of the Goblin King's hands, Sarah was leaning down to meet him in another kiss when another thought hit her and she suddenly pulled back. "Jareth, the goblins!"

"What about them?" Jareth asked, with a vague amused smile of déjà vu.

"We should really bring them back so they can see the end of the musical." Sarah said regretfully, sitting upright.

Jareth quickly summoned forth a crystal globe and threw it over his shoulder. "Taken care of, precious."

Sarah laughed as he pulled her back down and brought her to a stop an inch away from his lips. "Don't want to share my company with the goblins?"

"But what no one knew is the King of The Goblins wanted to only kiss the girl without being interrupted by his subjects singing or exploding food all over his kitchen and to make her his queen the minute her parents got back from Florida." Jareth agreed, taking her lips passionately with his own.

The throne room was full of delighted chatter and munching as the goblins sat crowded in front of the newly appeared big screen TV, watching Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

"Ahhhhh!" Murpl sighed happily, embracing the large bowl of popcorn in his lap with his skinny blue arms. They all had been rather depressed to be sent home without seeing the end of the musical, but the mood had sure picked up fifteen minutes later when a big screen TV and several large bowls of popcorn had materialized in the throne room.

Grunch clasped his hands together happily as Lorelei Lee and Dorothy Shaw walked down the aisle in matching wedding dresses, singing a duet. "Pretty 'un!"

"The King must be in a really good mood." Smidge commented, throwing a fistful of popcorn into her mouth as the ending credits began to play.

There was a general surprised gasp and then cheering as the opening sounds of Showboat came onto the screen.

"The King must be in a really, really good mood!" The goblin with the lopsided horn said happily.

"Yay 'un!" Grunch cheered.

"When the Lady becomes Queen, maybe we'll get musicals all the time!"


End file.
